^JSTOFI^^, 


.v^> 


Logical  8V:v^ 


BV  4447  .C527  1906 
Clark,  Francis  E.  1851-1927 
Christian  endeavor  in  all 
lands 


Rev.  Francis  E.  Clark,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

The  Founder  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  Movement, 


CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR 
—IN  ALL  LANDS= 


A  RECORD  OF   TWENTY-FIVE  YEARS  OF 

PROGRESS 

The  Story  of  a  Great  Religious  Move- 
ment which  has  Spread  Over  all  the  Earth 
from    a    Small     Beginning    in    America. 


BY . 

y 

REV.   FRANCIS  E.   CLARK,   D.D.,  LL.D., 

Founder  and  President  of  the  United  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor. 

Author  of  "Training  the  Church  ©f  the  Future,"   "A  New  Way  Round  an  Old 
World,"   "  The  Great  Secret,"   "Fellow  Travelers,"  etc. 


Profusely  Illustrated 

With  Nearly  200  Half-Tone  Engravmgs,  Portraits  and  Etchings. 


OFFICIAL  EDITION 


Entered  According  to  the  Act  of  Congress 

In  the  Year  1906 

By 

W.  E.  Scull 

In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress. 

All  rights  reserved. 


This  work  is  sanctioned  and  approved  by 
The  United  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  and 
is  the  official  record  of  Christian  Endeavor  in 
All  Lands  during  its  first  twenty-five  years  of 
activity. 

In  order  to  produce  so  valuable  a  work  and 
sell  it  at  low  prices,  it  is  offered  for  sale  by  sub- 
scription through  authorized  agents  only. 

To  all  persons  desiring  a  copy  of  this  book  we 
will,  on  request,  send  the  name  of  our  agent  in 
their  community,  or  if  we  have  no  agent  we  will 
arrange  to  send  a  copy  of  the  book  direct. 


FORE-WORD  AND  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 

The  preparation  of  this  history  has  been  no  light  task,  not 
because  of  the  lack  of  material,  but  because  of  its  superabun- 
dance. In  order  to  condense  the  story  of  twenty-five  years  into 
a  volume  of  reasonable  length,  it  has  been  necessary  to  discard 
much  that  the  writer  would  like  to  include.  Especially  griev- 
ous has  it  been  to  him  to  omit  the  mention  of  the  service  of 
many  personal  friends  and  earnest  workers  in  the  Christian 
Endeavor  movement,  whose  achievements  are  well  worthy  of 
record.  But  to  name  all  who  deserve  "honorable  mention" 
in  such  a  history  would  be  to  make  it  little  more  than  a  cata- 
logue. The  names  of  some  workers  whom  the  writer  counts 
among  his  dearest  personal  friends  are  not  found  in  this  vol- 
ume. If  any  one  should  find  any  achievement  of  the  Christian 
Endeavor  movement  omitted,  to  which  he  thinks  space  should 
have  been  given,  he  will  know  the  reason.  If,  on  the  other 
hand,  any  line  of  work  seems  to  be  unduly  magnified,  he  may 
remember  the  couplet  of  old  Edmund  Waller,  which  applies 
to  historians  as  well  as  to  bards : 

"Poets  lose  half  the  praise  they  should  have  got, 
Could  it  be  known  what  they  discreetly  blot." 

It  will  be  found,  however,  I  believe,  that  no  large  de- 
partment of  the  Christian  Endeavor  achievement  has  been  neg- 
lected, and  that  the  leading  events  in  the  history  of  the  move- 
ment are  here  recorded. 

In  the  preparation  of  this  volume  the  writer  has  consulted 
the  reports  of  the  leading  conventions  in  America,  Great 
Britain,  and  Australia,  which  are  contained  in  many  large 

iii 


IV 


Foreword. 


volumes,  as  well  as  files  of  The  Christian  Endeavor  World, 
The  Christian  Endeavour  Times,  Die  Jugend-Hilfe,  Activite 
Chretienne,  Esfuerzo  Cristiano,  O  Esforco  Christao,  India 
Christian  Endeavourer,  The  Irish  Endeavourer,  the  Church 
of  England  Christian  Endeavourer,  The  Christian  Endeavour 
Link,  The  Christian  Endeavour  News,  and  The  Roll-Call,  of 
Australia,  Endeavor,  of  Japan,  The  South  African  Endeav- 
ourer, as  well  as  many  of  the  State  papers  of  America,  includ- 
ing The  Ohio  Endeavorer,  The  Pine-Tree  Endeavorer,  The 
Texas  Christian  Endeavorer,  Iowa  Christian  Endeavor,  The 
Christian  Endeavor  Visitor,  of  Baltimore,  The  Pacific  Chris- 
tian Endeavorer,  The  Nebraska  Endeavor  News,  The  Varick 
Christian  Endeavorer,  Endeavor  Items,  the  New  York 
State  paper,  and  many  other  papers  published  by  State  and 
local  unions. 

I  am  also  indebted  to  several  volumes  by  Professor  Wells, 
whose  contributions  to  Christian  Endeavor  literature  are  fre- 
quently acknowledged,  and  have  also  consulted  Rev.  Mr. 
Spedding's  volume  on  "Christian  Endeavor,  Its  Genesis  and 
Genius,"  Rev.  Dwight  M.  Pratt's  "A  Decade  of  Christian  En- 
deavor," and  other  volumes  which  are  referred  to  in  the  course 
of  this  history. 

My  thanks  are  due  to  Rev.  W.  Knight  Chaplin  of  Eng- 
land; to  Rev.  L.  B.  Chamberlain  of  India,  Rev.  Frederick 
Blecher  of  Germany,  and  many  other  Christian  Endeavor 
leaders  in  dififerent  lands  for  helpful  information,  as  well  as 
to  many  who  have  told  me  of  their  personal  experiences,  which 
are  embraced  largely  in  the  chapter  entitled  "Christian  En- 
deavor in  Every-Day  Life." 

To  some  extent  I  have  been  able  to  draw  upon  materials 
used  in  other  volumes  I  have  written  concerning  various 
phases  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement;  but  I  have  used 
them  very  sparingly,  since  I  have  designed  this  history  to  be  as 
fresh  and  up  to  date  as  I  could  make  it,  from  the  standpoint 


Foreword.  ^ 

of  the  new  quarter-century,  which,  as  I  write  these  words,  has 
just  begun. 

This  volume  has  been  written  in  a  hospitable  foreign  city, 
whither  the  author  has  come  for  the  leisure  and  quiet  which  he 
could  not  obtain  at  home,  and,  as  these  pages  have  been  penned, 
especially  the  later  chapters,  he  would  very  gratefully  ac- 
knowledge the  many  letters  and  telegrams  and  kind  messages 
which  have  come  to  him  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  inspired 
by  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  Society.  Many  of  the 
leading  papers  and  magazines,  in  both  America  and  Great 
Britain,  and  some  in  Germany,  France,  and  Switzerland,  and 
other  lands  as  well,  have  contained  most  appreciative  articles 
on  the  twenty-five  years  of  Christian  Endeavor  work. 

May  the  coming  quarter-century  prove  the  Society  to  be 
fully  worthy  of  the  numerous  congratulatory  words  and  pro- 
phecies of  even  larger  success  which  the  anniversary  has 
called  forth. 

Above  all,  in  making  acknowledgment  of  aid  received  in 
the  writing  of  this  volume  I  cannot  forbear  to  speak  of  one 
who  has  been  my  chief  inspiration  and  unfailing  helpmeet 
from  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement. 
She  it  is  to  whom  this  volume  is  dedicated.  She  not  only 
rocked  the  cradle  of  Christian  Endeavor,  but  has  watched  over 
its  growth  with  constant  and  helpful  solicitude.  In  the  prep- 
aration of  this  volume  she  has  rendered  me  invaluable  help,  not 
only  in  the  mechanical  task  of  its  preparation,  but  also  in  fre- 
quent suggestions  for  its  improvement,and  much  aid  in  search- 
ing the  authorities  and  the  records  of  the  movement. 

Five  years  ago,  on  the  twentieth  anniversary  of  the  move- 
ment I  had  occasion  to  express  my  gratitude  for  God's  good- 
ness during  the  first  score  of  years  of  its  existence.  In  view 
of  the  still  larger  blessings  that  have  come  during  the  last  five 
y^ars,  I  may  be  allowed,  perhaps,  to  repeat  in  part  the  Psalm 
of  Praise  for  this  full  quarter-century  of  God's  right  hand. 


VI 


Foreword. 


1.  I  Thank  God  for  the  men  with  whom  I  have  been 
associated  in  the  executive  office  of  Christian  Endeavor,  for 
confidant  and  fellow  worker,  for  secretary  and  treasurer  and 
editor  and  trustee.  There  have  not  been  many  breaks  in  our 
ranks — few  by  death  and  fewer  still  by  alienation.  There 
were  never  more  devoted  friends  than  those  who  have  worked 
together  for  Christian  Endeavor,  some  of  them  for  nearly 
twenty  years. 

2.  I  Thank  God  for  the  great  number  of  Christian 
Endeavor  leaders  in  State  and  district  and  local  unions;  for 
their  self-sacrificing  labor,  which  would  aggregate  tens  of 
thousands  of  years  during  these  last  two  decades.  To  them 
under  God  belongs  more  credit  than  will  ever  be  known  for 
the  success  of  the  movement. 

3.  I  Thank  God  for  the  pastors  who  have  so  many 
times  strengthened  our  hands,  and  overlooked  our  failings, 
and  cheered  our  hearts  by  kind  words  of  appreciation;  who 
have  so  seldom  been  captious,  so  often  generous  and  appre- 
ciative; who  have  made  Christian  Endeavor  possible  by  in- 
troducing it  to  their  young  people,  and  by  sustaining  them 
in  their  work. 

4.  I  Thank  God  for  the  friends  I  have  found  in  every 
land  and  in  every  denomination;  for  the  dear  fellow  workers 
in  Great  Britain  and  France  and  Germany  and  Switzerland 
and  Spain,  in  Sweden  and  Russia  and  Bohemia  and  Bulgaria 
and  Macedonia  and  Italy  and  Portugal,  in  Australia  and 
South  Africa,  in  India  and  China  and  Japan  and  many 
islands  of  many  seas;  that  our  hearts  have  all  been  knit  to- 
gether by  the  Christian  Endeavor  tie  that  binds. 

5.  I  Thank  God  for  those  who  modestly  call  themselves 
the  rank  and  file,  really  the  bone  and  sinew,  of  Christian 
Endeavor;  those  whose  names  I  know  not,  and  who  do 
not  care  to  have  them  paraded  in  print.  These  names  are 
written  in  heaven.  They  will  all  be  accounted  for  in  the 
last  roll-call. 

6.  I  Thank  God  for  the  Christian  Endeavor  marines 
who  have  sailed  the  sea  for  God;  for  the  Christian  Endeavor 
soldiers  who  have  stood  for  Him  in  camp  and  fought  for 
Him  on  the  field,  for  the  Christian  Endeavor  martyrs  in 
Madagascar  and  Armenia  and  China,  who  have  counted  not 


Foreword. 


vu 


their  lives  dear  unto  them;  for  the  Christian  Endeavor  pris- 
oners who  behind  the  bars  have  found  the  liberty  wherewith 
the  Son  maketh  free,  and  who,  in  Him,  have  become  free 
indeed. 

7.  I  Thank  God  for  those  who  have  entered  into  the 
blessedness  of  "the  Quiet  Hour,"  who  have  been  hidden  in 
"the  secret  of  His  pavilion;"  for  those  who  have  learned 
the  joy  of  giving  as  they  have  been  prospered;  and  for  the 
millions  of  dollars  which  have  been  sent  to  relieve  the  desti- 
tute and  to  enlighten  the  darkened  eyes. 

8.  I  Thank  God  for  the  strong  young  men  whose 
hearts  He  has  moved  to  fight  their  country's  peaceful  battles, 
and  to  stand  for  righteousness  in  the  State,  purity  in  the  city, 
and  peace  in  all  the  world. 

9.  I  Thank  God  for  the  boys  and  girls  whose  feet  have 
been  turned  Zionward  in  the  Junior  societies;  for  their  child- 
ish love  and  service;  for  the  self-denying  leaders  who  have 
guided  them  so  faithfully. 

10.  I  Thank  God  for  the  beautiful  fellowship  that  has 
blessed  Christian  Endeavor,  and  that  people  whose  creeds 
differ,  whose  forms  are  various,  and  whose  traditions  are 
diverse,  have  come  to  see  that  our  Lord's  prayer  was  for  them, 
that  "they  might  be  one,"  while  the  world  has  looked  on  and 
said,  "Behold,  how  these  brethren  love  one  another!" 

11.  I  Thank  God  for  the  wonderful  conventions, 
which  for  a  dozen  years  have  so  far  surpassed  our  early 
dreams  and  outclassed  our  early  hopes;  for  these  dear  fellow- 
ships; for  their  inspirations;  for  their  joy;  for  the  eyes  that 
have  glistened,  the  souls  that  have  broadened,  and  the  hearts 
that  in  them  have  leaped  to  new  impulses. 

12.  I  Thank  God  for  His  Holy  Spirit,  without  whose 
leadership  all  endeavor  is  vain. 

"Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul!" 

"I  will  bless  the  Lord  at  all  times;  His  praise  shall  con- 
tinually be  in  my  mouth." 

"O  magnify  the  Lord  with  me,  and  let  us  exalt  His  name 
together." 

Munich,  Bavaria,  Feb.  2,  IQ06. 


DEDICATED 

TO 

MY  WIFE. 


CONTENTS 


CHAP.  PAGE. 

I.  The  Soil,  the  Seed,  and  the  Climate     .      .      .      .  17 

II.  The  Genesis  OF  the  Christian /Endeavor Society     .  34 

III.  Some  First  Things 42 

IV.  The  Exodus  of  the  Society 52 

V.     The  Line  of  March .63 

VI.     The  Hand  of  Providence 74 

^VII.     Underlying  Principles 89 

VIII.     Helps  and  Helpers 103 

IX.     Helpers  in  Type 116 

X.     The  Great  Conventions 128 

XL     London  and  Ningpo 142 

XII.  Wonderful  Gatherings  in  Australia  and  India     .  159 

XIII.  "The    Best    Yet" 172 

XIV,  Cm  Bono? 185 

XV.    Young  Men  and  Maidens 199 

XVI.     The  Junior  Army 212 

XVII.     The  Society  and  the  Psychologist 225 

XVI 11.     The  Christian  Endeavor  Covenant 241 

XIX.     The  Christian  Endeavor  Forum 254 

XX.     The  Society's  Programme  of  Work 266 

XXI.     The  Society  and  Its  Relations 275 

XXII.     Back  Currents  and  Eddies         288 

XXIII.  Touches  of  Color 298 

XXIV.  Christian  Endeavor  as  an  Educator         .      .      .      .312 
XXV.  Evangelistic  Endeavor  at  Home  and  Abroad       .      .  327 

XXVI.     The  Society  as  a  Democracy 341 

XXVII.  The  New  and  the  Old  in  Christian  Endeavor       .  352 

XXVIII.  Christian  Endeavor  in  the  Americas      ....  362 

XXIX.     Christian  Endeavor  in  Europe 380 

XXX.     Christian  Endeavor  in  Africa 400 

XXXI.     Christian  Endeavor  in  Asia 416 

XXXII.  Christian  Endeavor  in  the  Island  World     .     .     .  438 

ix 


Contents. 


CHAP.  PAGE. 

XXXIII.  Christian  Endeavor  Among  the  Boer  Prisoners     .   452 

XXXIV.  Christian  Endeavor  Afloat 462 

XXXV.  Christian  Endeavor  in  Surprising  Places     .      .      .   473 

XXXVI.  Four   Christian    Endeavor  Journeys   Around   the 

World 487 

XXXVII.     Citizenship   Endeavors •  .   497 

XXXVIII.     Kindling  Missionary  Fires         508 

*^XXXIX.  Christian    Endeavor    and    the    Deeper    Christian 

Life ,      .      .   521 

XL.     Practical  Endeavors         .529 

XLI.  Christian  Endeavor  in  Every-day  Life     ...   540 

XLII.  Heroic  Christian  Endeavor        .      .      .      .      «            -550 

XLIII.     Christian  Endeavor  in  Song =      .   560 

XLIV.  Bright  Plans  Tried  and  Proved     ......   576 

^XLV.     How  to  Lift  an  Endeavor  Society         586 

XLVI.  The  Pastor  and  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society     .   593 

XLVII.     Convention  Oratory         601 

XLVIII.  "  That  They  All  May  Be  One  "     ..„.,.   614 


FULL  PAGE  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Dr.  Francis  E.   Clark Frontispiect 

WiLLiSTON  Church Page  ig 

An  Avenue  of  Palms  in  Honolulu "  65 

Leading  British  Endeavorers "  75 

Prominent   British   Endeavorers "  79 

Christian    Endeavor    in    Different   Languages "  85 

A  Gospel  Boat  in  Foochov^^ "  88 

C.   E.   Convention  in   Bombay "  91 

Prominent   American    Endeavorers "  105 

Leading    American    Endeavorers      .      .      .     '. .  "  109 

American    Endeavorers "  117 

Facsimile  of  Swiss  C.  E.   Paper "121 

The   White   City   at   Detroit .  "  129 

The  All-India  Convention  at  Allahabad "  169 

Dr.  Clark's  Five  C.  E.  Journeys  in  Europe "191 

Endeavorers  of  Many   Lands "  201 

Aboriginal   American    Endeavorers "  205 

Some  Chinese  Juniors "  213 

C.  E.  Badges  from  Many  Parts  of  the  World "  299 

A  Remarkable  Banner  from  China "  310 

View  of  Lake  Manomet,  near  Sagamore  Beach,   Mass "  315 

Chicago  Endeavorers'  Evangelistic  Cruise "  ZH 

Royal  Endeavorers,   Prince  and  Princess  of   Sweden "  343 

Officers  and  Workers  in  Europe "  381 

A  Street  Scene  in  Cairo "  401 

Christian  Endeavor  in  Egypt "  403 

Workers  of  Various  Nations "  4' 7 

The  Taj  Mahal  of  Agra,  India "  429 

Floating  C.  E.  Society.     On  Board  the  U.  S.  S.  Maine     ....  "  465 

Australian    Aborigines "  475 

A  C.  E.  Society  School  for  the  Blind  at  Bombay "481 

One  Way  of  Going  to  a  C.  E.  Convention  in  China "  509 

An  Industrial  School  in    India "  513 

Prominent  Christian  Endeavor  Evangelists "  5-3 

Two   Heroes    of    China '"  55 1 

Leaders  in   Song "  56  r 

At  the   National  Capital "  5^7 

Famous  Preachers  and  Christian  Endeavorers "  595 


XI 


ILLUSTRATIONS  IN  THE  TEXT 

An  Old  Book  by  Cotton  Mather Page    24 

WiLLiSTON  Church  Parsonage "  z] 

WiLLiSTON  Chapel "  30 

Mrs.  Francis  E.  Clark "  35 

Facsimile  of  Original  C.  E.  Constitution "  y] 

First  Twenty   Names  of  Original  Members "  40 

IV.  J.  Van  Patten "  43 

Memorial  Tablet,  Williston   Church "  46 

Rev.  C.  a.  Dickinson "  48 

The  C.  E.  Covenant  in  Tamil "  55 

The  Japanese  C.  E.  Covenant "  56 

Telugu    C.    E.    Covenant "  60 

The  Bridge  of  Ten  Thousand  Ages "  67 

A  Ragged  Sunday  School  in  Foochow^ "  70 

Miss   A.   Bliss "  71 

Jamaica   Christian    Endeavor "  83 

Leaders  of  C.  E.  Work  in  India "  no 

Geo.  W.   Coleman "  114 

Our  Brothers  in   Type "  124 

A  Typical  C.  E.  Convention  Tent  Scene "  133 

A    C.  E.  Convention  Audience  in  Boston "  136 

London   International  C.   E.   Convention "  144 

Children's  Choir,  London  International "  150 

The  Ningpo  Convention  Committee "  154 

The   Ningpo   Officials "  156 

Town  Hall,  Sydney,  Australia     .     .     .     .     » "  160 

In  the  Australian   Bush "  163 

Mexican    Endeavorers        "  174 

Christian  Endeavor  in  Japan "  I77 

Baltimore  Convention   Building "  183 

Ute  Indians  Going  to  Colorado  Convention "  188 

Christian   Endeavor  in    Ireland "  i94 

Some  Presidents  of  C.  E.  Societies  in  Persia "  208 

Some  Junior  Endeavorers  of  Harpoot,   Turkey "  214 

Chinese  C.  E.  Juniors  at  Foochow "  217 

Some  Spanish   C.   E.   Juniors "  218 

Bridge  Built  by  Juniors  at  Melbourne   Convention "221 

Representing  Growth  of  C.  E.   Movement  in  China "  223 

German  Boy  Who  Formed  a  Society  in  School 227 

Junior  C.  E.  Music  Band,  Konigsberg  Germany "230 

xiii 


xiv  Illustrations. 

C.  E.  Juniors  in  Bebek,  Turkey Page  235 

Facsimile  of  a  C.  E.  Pledge "  243 

The  C.  E.  Covenant,  Turkish "  246 

The  C.   E.    Covenant,   Bohemian "  248 

The  C.  E.   Pledge,   Malagasy "  251 

Getting  Ready  for  a  Convention  in  Portugal "  258 

Sunshine  Committee  in  Turkey  Reading  to  Blind  Woman     .      .     .  "     "  268 

Rev.  Enrique  de  Tienda "  272 

The  M.   E.   Society  of   Barcelona,   Spain "  282 

Rough  Sketches  from  Which  C.  E.  Badge  was  Designed     ....  "  303 

The  Increase  Banner  Given  to  Oregon "  305 

Johanneslund  Missionary  Institute "  317 

C.  E.  Summer  School,  Yarmouth,  Maine "  321 

New  Summer  Home  of  C.  E.  at  Sagamore  Beach "  323 

First  Mothers'  Society  of  C.  E.,  Topeka,  Kansas "  329 

Men's   Meeting  during  Convention,  Washington,  D.   C "  335 

Raw    Material  for  the  C.    E.   in   Africa "  338 

Monastir,  Turkey,  Home  of  Four  C.  E.   Societies "  339 

English,  Irish  and  Scotch  C.  E.  Convention,  Scotland     ....  "  347 

A  Bit  of  the  Last  Welsh  C.  E.  Convention "  349 

Tent  Endeavor,  Denver  C.  E.  Convention "  369 

Endeavorers  at  Dr.  Clark's  Birthplace,  Aylmer,  Quebec     ....  "  374 

The  Cathedral  in   Mexico  City "  375 

The  Second  National  C.  E.  Convention  in  Brazil "  377 

Group  of  Endeavorers  in  Sao  Paulo,  Brazil "  378 

Scandinavian  Delegates  to  C.  E.  Convention  in  Berlin     ....  "  386 

A  C.   E.   Convention   in    Sweden "  389 

First  C.   E.   Convention   Held  in    Russia "  391 

Executive  Committee  of  Hungarian   C.   E.   Union "  392 

Spanish  C.  E.'s  in  Costumes  of  Different  Provinces "  394 

C.  E.  Society,  Geneva,  Switzerland "  396 

A  Junior  C.  E.  Society  in  Spain "  397 

Spanish  Junior  C.   E.   Society  of  Valencia "  399 

C.  E.  Society  of  Lagos,  West  Coast  of  Africa "  405 

How  Some  Christian  Endeavorers  Travel  in  Africa     .....  "  408 

Executive  Committee  of  the  South  African  C.  E.  Union     ....  "  411 

Seventh  National  South  African  Convention  at  Durban,  1905    .     .  "  413 

Rev.  D.  G.  W.  R.  Marchan "415 

The  Zig-Zag  Bridge  in  China "  420 

The  White  Pagoda  in  Foochow "  422 

Japanese  Endeavorers  at  Osaka "  423 

The  Banner  Convention  PIeld  in  Japan  in  1903     .......  "  425 

A  Japanese  Women's  C.  E.   Society "  427 

Street  Scene  in   Calcutta "  43i 

Some  Endeavor  Leaders  in  India "  433 


Illustrations. 


XV 


Girls'  C.  E.  Society  in  Marsovan,  Turkey Page  435 

City  Hall,  King  William   Street,  Adelaide "  440 

Some  Leading  Endeavor  Workers  in  Australia .  "  442 

Girls'   School,   Kohala^   Hawaii "  446 

Miss  Olafia  Yohansdotter,  Icelandic  Interpreter     ......  "  450 

John  Makins,  Mgr.  Seamen's  Home,  Nagasaki,  Japan     .....  "  466 

Antoinette   P.   Jones,   Falmouth,    Massachusetts "  467 

Floating  Christian  Endeavorers,  U.  S.  Cruiser  Chicago     ....  "  469 

The  White  C.  E.  Society  in  Frankfort  State  Prison "  477 

On  the  Valdez  Glacier,  in  Alaska "  483 

Some  C.  E.  Veterans,  National  Military  Home,  Kansas     ....  "  485 

A  Beauty  Spot  in  New  Zealand "  488 

Going  by  Wheelbarrow  to  a  C.  E.  Service  in  China "  490 

Mayoral  Reception  to  Dr.  Clark,  New  Zealand "  491 

Route  of  Dr.  Clark's  Fourth  Journey  Around  the  World  ....  "  492 

A   Scene  in   Scandinavia .  "  494 

How  We  Travel  in  the   Boxer   Country     .........*  "  495 

Drinking  Fountain   Erected  by  Christian   Endeavorers     ....  "  500 

Hon.  S.  B.  Capen,  LL.  D.,  Boston,  Massachusetts "  501 

Hon.  H.  B.  F.  Macfarland "505 

German   Endeavor  Officers "  511 

C.  E.  Society  Girls'  Orphanage,  Marsova,  Turkey  in  Asia     ...  "  516 

Before  and  After  —  Before "  518 

Before  and  After  —  After "  519 

C.  E.  Flower  Committee  in  India  Starting  for  the  Hospital     .      .  "  531 

C.  E.  Rest  for  Ranchmen  at  Pierre,  South  Dakota -"  533 

Lumbermen's  Reading  Room,  Furnished  by  Endeavorers     ...  "  536 

Recognition   Certificate '  53S 

A    Native    Alaskan    Christian    Endeavorer "  54^ 

An  Open  Air  Meeting  in  Bahia,  Brazil "545 

Christian  Endeavorers  Among  the  Lepers "  556 

Mr.   Tung   and   His    Family "  558 

Facsimile  of  C.  E.  Hymn  by  Rev.   Samuel  F.   Smith     .....  "  56-2 

Hymn  and  Music  by  Rev.  John    Pollock "566 

Blest   Be  the  Tie  That   Binds,   in    French "569 

Farewell  to    Soldiers    Leaving   Japan    for    China     ......  ',  ^"^^ 

A  Burmese  Choir  Leader 574 

A   Musical  Notation ^^  5c^o 

Record  of   C.   E.    Missionary    Collections,    1905 '^'  581 

A   German    C    E.    Cartoon «  ^°^ 

A  German  Symbol  of  Christian  Endeavor     . 600 


-       CHAPTER  I. 
THE  SOIL,  THE  SEED,  AND  THE  CLIMATE. 

HEREIN  IS  DESCRIBED  THE  SOIL  OF  YOUTHFUL  HEARTS, 
THE  GOOD  SEED  OF  THE  WORD  AND  OF  PERSONAL 
SERVICE,  AND  THE  CLIMATE,  WARM  AND  KINDLY,  OF 
THE  CHURCH  OF  THE  LAST  QUARTER  OF  THE  NINE- 
TEENTH CENTURY,  TOGETHER  WITH  A  DESCRIPTION 
OF  SOME  EXPERIMENTS  IN  CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR 
THAT  ANTEDATE  THE  CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR  SOCIETY. 

"  The  wonder  now  is  that  we  have  been  expending  ourselves 
so  largely  on  literary  and  mutual-improvement  societies,  instead 
of  appealing  to  the  spiritual  forces  that  were  lying  unawakened 
in  so  many  j'oung  natures.  The  church  life  of  the  future  will 
be  healthier,  gladder,  more  enterprising,  as  our  Endeavorers 
pour  into  the  churches  to  assume,  as  they  certainly  will  do,  posi- 
tions of  great  responsibility."  Rev.  F.  B.  Meyer. 

HE  growth  of  a  new  movement  in  the  moral  or  re- 
ligious world,  or,  for  that  matter,  in  the  social, 
business,  or  any  other  world,  is  very  much  like 
the  development  of  a  new  fruit  or  flower.  Two 
things,  at  least,  are  essential,  the  soil  and  the  seed. 
In  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  the  soil  is  the  heart  of 
youth,  warm,  responsive,  easily  cultivated.  The  seed  is  the 
idea  of  personal  service  for  Christ  and  for  the  church. 

But  the  soil,  however  fertile,  and  the  seed,  though  burst- 
ing with  life,  will  not  produce  their  normal  fruitage  in  an 
inhospitable  climate.  The  most  fertile  soil  and  seed  brought 
together  at  the  north  pole  will  produce  no  fruit,  and  the  neces- 
sary climate  for  the  growth  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  seed 

2  17 


i8  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

and  its  propagation  in  all  parts  of  the  world  was  not  found 
until  the  last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century,  when  interest 
in  Christian  nurture  and  the  training  of  the  young  for  Chris- 
tian service  began  to  be  the  most  vital  interest  of  the  Christian 
church.  Here,  then,  were  the  three  essentials  of  the  new 
movement:  soil,  seed,  and  climate. 

The  good  soil  and  the  good  seed  had  of  course  always 
existed,  and  the  good  atmosphere  in  a  limited  degree;  but  they 
had  never  been  brought  together  for  the  development  and 
growth  of  a  new  and  universal  movement. 

That  the  soil  of  youthful  hearts  has  always  been  respon- 
sive to  the  highest  motives  and  always  been  ready  to  bring 
forth  the  good  fruits  of  Christian  service  is  proved  by  the 
experience  of  all  those  who  have  had  anything  to  do  with  the 
Christian  nurture  of  the  young  since  our  Lord  said,  "Let  the 
little  ones  come  unto  Me." 

Many  were  the  groups  of  boys  and  girls  who  in  the  elder 
days  came  together  for  prayer  or  for  Christian  work.  The 
experience  of  my  older  readers  is  confirmed  by  the  latest  word 
of  the  psychologists,  who  have  written  many  learned  volumes 
to  prove  that  at  the  period  of  adolescence  and  soon  after  the 
soul  of  the  child  is  opened  to  the  Infinite  as  at  no  other  time. 
Then,  they  tell  us,  the  soil  of  the  soul  is  most  prolific  and  fruit- 
ful. New  thoughts,  new  emotions,  new  aspirations,  spring  up 
as  if  by  magic. 

The  good  seed  of  the  Word  of  God,  and  of  personal  ser- 
vice, too,  for  Christ's  sake,  has  often  been  planted  in  all  the 
ages  past  in  the  soil  of  youth  by  wise  teachers  and  pas- 
Personai      ^^^^      jj^^  jj^^j^  j^^  ^^-^.j^  ^1^^  ^^^  loaves  and  the  two 
Service. 

fishes,   the  little   Israelitish  maiden  in  the  court  of 

Syria,  are  typical  Junior  Endeavorers.  The  boys  have  always 
been  ready  to  distribute  the  loaves  and  fishes,  and  the  girls  have 
always  been  willing  to  tell  the  good  news  which  they  have 
learned,  when  wisely  directed  and  encouraged  by  their  elders. 


The  Soil,  the  Seed   and  the  Climate.         i. 


20  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

But,  alas!  the  third  element  of  religious  growth  among  the 
young,  the  warm,  genial,  all-embracing  atmosphere  of  good 
will  and  interest  in  their  work,  has  not  always  been  found  in 
the  Christian  church.  In  fact,  until  within  the  last  half-cen- 
tury little  has  been  thought  of  them  or  their  needs.  The  idea 
of  conquest  from  without  dominated  the  church,  rather  than 
the  thought  of  growth  from  within.  The  minister  and  evan- 
gelist sought  to  turn  the  calloused  feet  of  hardened  sinners  into 
the  way  of  truth  rather  than  the  tender  feet  of  the  little  child. 
The  thought  of  the  church  as  an  army  rather  than  a  home,  or 
as  a  hospital  for  the  decrepit  and  the  diseased  rather  than  as  a 
nursery,  dominated  the  religious  thought  of  the  centuries; 
and  it  was  not  until  Bushnell  wrote  his  epoch-making  book  on 
Christian  nurture  that  the  modern  religious  world  began  to  see 
that  there  must  be  training  from  within,  as  well  as  conquest 
from  without,  if  the  church  was  to  hold  her  own,  and  win  the 
world  to  her  standards. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  illustrations  of  the  truth  that, 
whereas  the  right  soil  and  the  right  seed  were  often  brought 
together,  yet  the  genial  climate  was  lacking  is  furnished  by 
the  stories  of  the  old  young  people's  societies  which  were 
formed  in  the  earlier  Puritan  days  of  the  New  England  com- 
monwealths. There  were  at  one  time  a  number  of  such  socie- 
ties, which  had  many  features  in  common  with  the  Christian 
Endeavor  movement,  though  nothing  was  known  of  them  by 
the  leaders  of  the  modern  movement  for  years  after  the  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  Society  had  grown  strong. 

As  gunpowder  and  the  mariner's  compass  and  the 
printing-press  were  invented  in  China  centuries  ago,  and  re- 
invented on  an  entirely  independent  basis  when  the 
Puritan         modern  European  world  had  need  of  them,  so  the 

^'  principles  of  the  modern  Christian  Endeavor  So- 
ciety seem  to  have  been  antedated  by  the  Puritans  of  the  Mas- 
sachusetts  Colony.     No  one  less   distinguished   than   Cotton 


The  Soil,  the  Seed   and  the  Climate.         21 

Mather  himself,  apparently,  formed  the  first  of  these  societies. 
The  seed  was  so  good,  and  the  soil  so  fertile,  that  a  number  of 
others  sprung  up  in  Massachusetts  and  the  other  New  England 
colonies  in  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  more  than  a 
hundred  and  fifty  years  before  the  beginning  of  the  modern 
Christian  Endeavor  movement. 

Here  is  a  copy  of  three  features  of  the  agreement*  made  in 
June,  1741,  by  the  young  people  of  the  North  Parish  of 
Bridgewater,  now  Brockton,  Mass.  We  reproduce  this  agree- 
ment exactly  as  written  out  by  these  "yuthe  who  Thrue  the 
grace  of  God  have  been  awakened  to  be  consarned  about  the 
things  that  belonge  to  our  everlasting  peace  and  that  wolde  re- 
member our  Creator  in  the  days  of  our  yuthe."  The  spirit  and 
purpose  of  these  "yuthe"  are  evidently  more  to  be  commended 
than  their  orthography. 

"i  it  shall  be  our  endeaveare  to  spend  the  tow  ourse 
frome  seven  to  nine  of  every  lords  day  evening  in  prayer  to 
gathare  by  turnse  the  one  to  begine  and  the  outhear  to  con- 
clud  the  meting  and  betwene  the  tow  prayers  haveing  a  sar- 
mon  repeated  whereto  the  singing  of  a  psalm  shall  be  anexed 
and  ef  aftear  the  stated  exersise  of  the  eveneing  are  ovear  if 
theare  be  any  residue  of  time  we  will  aske  one  a  nothare  ques- 
tions out  of  the  catecism  or  some  questions  in  divinyty  or  have 
such  reliagus  conversation  as  we  shall  best  sarve  for  the  edefi- 
cation  of  the  sosiety." 

"2     that  we  will  bare  with  one  anothare  infarmitys  and 
not  upbrad  tharwith  nor  deulge  any  thing  of  what  natur  so- 
ever to  that  is  done  at  our  meetings  to  the  pregedic  of  it." 
**        *        *********** 

"3  one  in  tow  monthes  we  will  read  over  our  articals 
at  our  metings  and  call  over  our  lest  that  if  any  have  been 
absent  that  may  by  one  of  the  sosiety  be  asked  the  reson 
tharfore." 

That  the  movement  indicated  by  this  ill-spelled  agreement 

*  This  document  was   discovered   by  Rev.   Otis  Cary,   an   honored   missionary 
to  Japan,  when  home  on  a  furlough,  and  was  sent  to  the  writer. 


22  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

among  the  youth  of  Bridgewater  was  somewhat  widespread  is 
indicated  not  only  by  the  church  records  which  we  find  in  va- 
rious towns,  but  by  some  ancient  books,  notably  a  rare  little 
leather-covered  volume  by  Cotton  Mather,  the  originator  of 
these  societies,  published  in  1724,  and  entitled  'Proposals  for 
the  Revival  of  Dying  Religion  by  Weil-Ordered  Societies  for 
that  Purpose." 

In  this  little  volume,  also,  are  contained  the  constitution 
and  rules  on  which  the  other  similar  societies  were  evidently 
Cotton  based,  and  these  bear  many  curious  resemblances  to 

Mather's       the   modern    Christian    Endeavor    Society.     There 

Model.  .  .  -' 

was  to  be  a  weekly  meeting  at  which  all  the  mem- 
bers evidently  were  expected  to  be  present,  and  in  these  meet- 
ings "two  hours  were  to  be  occupied  with  prayers  and  a  ser- 
mon and  the  singing  of  a  psalm  annexed."  Yet  these  differ- 
ences from  a  modern  young  people's  meeting,  which  at  first 
seem  so  radical,  were  only  what  might  be  expected  in  the  more 
sedate  and  sermon-loving  days  of  the  Puritan  commonwealth. 
This  society  was  formed  long  before  the  organized  missionary 
efforts  of  the  American  churches;  but  that  the  missionary 
spirit  was  not  absent  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  a  collection  was 
provided  for,  though  only  once  in  three  months,  "out  of  which 
the  necessary  charges  of  the  society  shall  be  defrayed,  and  the 
rest  be  employed  upon  such  pious  uses  as  may  be  agreed  upon." 

But  the  most  interesting  resemblance  between  this  old- 
fashioned  society  and  those  of  modern  times  is  the  provision 
for  keeping  the  membership  an  active  one,  and  weeding  out, 
from  time  to  time,  those  who  have  lost  their  interest  or  are 
wilfully  negligent  of  their  duties.  In  the  modern  society  the 
delinquent  mxmber  is  quietly  dropped  after  three  consecutive 
and  unexcused  absences  from  the  monthly  roll-call  meeting. 
In  the  ancient  society  we  find  this  provision  in  the  constitu- 
tion : 

"Let  the  List  be  once  a  quarter  called  over;  and  then.  If 


The  Soil,  the  Seed    and  the  CHmate.         23 

it  be  observed,  that  any  of  the  Society  have  much  absented 
themselves,  Let  there  be  some  sent  unto  them,  to  inquire  the 
Reason  of  their  Absence;  and  if  no  Reason  be  given,  but  such 
as  intimates  an  Apostacy  from  good  Beginnings,  Let  them 
upon  Obstinacy,  after  loveing  and  faithful  Admonitions,  be 
Obliterated." 

Evidently  Cotton  Mather  meant  that  the  names  should  be 
obliterated  from  the  roll  of  the  society,  and  not  the  persons 
themselves;  a  rule  which  if  carried  out  in  many  a  modern 
church  and  religious  society  would  do  much  to  prevent  the 
accumulation  of  dead  and  unsightly  limbs  on  the  living  tree. 

Yes,  in  those  ancient  days  the  seed  was  sound  and  the  soil 
was  fertile — there  can  be  no  doubt  about  it,  for  it  was 
A  substantially  the  same  seed  and  the  same  soil  that 

Atmos?  have  produced  so  abundant  fruitage  during  the  last 
phere.  quarter  of  a  century.     But  how  different  was  the  at- 

mosphere! As  different  as  December  from  June.  The 
church  of  that  day  abounded  in  strong,  stalwart,  militant 
souls;  but  the  hard  surroundings  of  those  pioneer  days,  the 
rugged  theology  that  had  more  often  conceived  of  God  as  a 
King  and  a  Judge  than  as  a  loving  Father,  and  more  especially 
the  Pauline  idea  of  conversion,  which  dominated  the  church 
almost  to  the  exclusion  of  the  Timothy  type,  all  combined  to 
produce  an  atmosphere  in  which  these  young  people's  societies 
could  not  long  thrive.  A  few  far-seeing  souls,  like  Cotton 
Mather  himself,  and  doubtless  others  of  his  type,  recognized 
the  vast  importance  of  such  a  movement.  They  prayed,  they 
preached,  they  organized,  but  the  atmosphere  of  the  times  was 
too  much  for  them. 

The  symbol  of  the  church  in  those  days  was  the  tithing- 
man's  stick,  with  which  to  rap  naughty  boys  over  the  head, 
rather  than  the  shepherd's  crook  wherewith  to  guide  them  into 
the  green  pastures  of  loving  service.  After  a  time  these  socie- 
ties seem  to  have  wholly  disappeared.    No  trace  of  one  of  them 


24 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


was  to  be  found  in  any  of  the  churches  where  they  had  been 
established,  except  in  some  musty  records;  and  their  exist- 
ence was  wholly  unknown,  except  possibly  to  a  few  antiqua- 


Keligious   Societies. 


PROPOSALS 

For  the  REVIVAL  of 

Dying  Religion, 

BY    WellOrdered 

Societies 

For  That  PURPOSE. 

With  a  brieFDiscouRSE,  Offered 
unto  a  Keligious  Society,  on 
the  Firft  Day  ot  their  Meeting. 


I  Their  V.  II.  Edify  one  another 


BOSTON: 
Printed  by  S.  Kneeland»  for  John 
Phillips,  and  Sold  at  his  Shop 
over  againft  the  South-fide  of  the 
Town  Houfe.   1724. 


UTLE-PAGE  OF  AN  OLD  BOOK   BY  COTTON  MATHER. 

rians  and  historical  scholars,  for  years  after  the  Endeavor 
movement,  which  had  unconsciously  adopted  some  of  Cotton 
Mather's  principles  and  methods,  had  grown  strong. 


The  Soil,  the  Seed  and  the  Climate.         25 

But,  as  years  went  on,  the  atmosphere  began  to  grow  more 
spring-like,  and  the  theology  of  the  day  became  more  genial. 
The  appalling  loss  from  the  Sunday-school  and  in  Christian 
families  of  young  people  who  did  not  walk  in  their  fathers' 
ways,  and  were  lost  to  the  church,  forced  itself  upon  the  atten- 
tion of  the  Christian  public.  Young  America  began  to  assert 
itself  more  and  more  in  various  ways;  and,  though  this  asser- 
tion had  many  unpleasant  and  some  deplorable  features,  it  also 
had  something  to  do  with  ushering  in  what  has  been  called  the 
Young  People's  Era. 

There  were  other  contributing  causes,  too,  which  made 
possible  in  the  fulness  of  time  the  new  young  people's  move- 
ment. Almost  exactly  a  hundred  years  before  the  formation 
of  the  first  Christian  Endeavor  society,  Robert  Raikes  in  Glou- 
cester, in  England,  had  formed  the  first  modern  Sunday-school, 
other  a  poor  little  afifair,  to  be  sure,  for  ragged  children, 

u2ng"''^  who  must  be  tolled  in  by  the  ofTer  of  a  hot  potato. 
Causes.  yet  the  pioneer  of  that  magnificent  movement  which 
now  numbers  pupils  by  tens  of  millions,  and  its  teachers  by 
the  hundred  thousand.  But  it  was  the  pioneer  of  more  than 
the  Sunday-school.  That  little  ragged  Sunday-school  in  a  by- 
street of  Gloucester  was  the  forerunner  of  many  other  forms 
of  Christian  nurture  and  of  interest  in  the  religious  life  of 
youth,  and  did  more  than  all  other  things  to  prepare  the  way 
for  the  time  when  the  boys  and  girls,  and  their  older  brothers 
and  sisters,  should  not  only  be  taught,  and  entertained,  and  sur- 
feited with  books  and  picture  papers  and  summer  picnics  and 
Christmas  trees,  but  should  be  given  their  share  in  the  service 
and  responsibility  of  the  church  of  God. 

A  generation  before  the  date  of  the  first  Christian  En- 
deavor society  came  the  formation  of  the  first  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association,  and  this  noble  organization,  spreading 
so  rapidly  throughout  the  world,  and  finding  its  most  congenial 
home  in  America,  did  not  a  little  to  awaken  the  church  to  the 


26  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

needs  and  possibilities  of  the  hour.  If  so  much  was  to  be  done 
for  the  young  men,  why  should  not  the  young  women  share  in 
the  privileges  and  duties,  and  if  an  organization  outside  of 
the  church,  though  related  to  it  in  most  friendly  and  sympa- ,/ 
thetic  bonds,  should  undertake  this  most-needed  work  for  their' 
fellows  who  had  no  church  affiliations,  why  should  not  the 
church  itself  do  such  a  work  for  its  own  young  people,  thus 
drawing  them  to  itself  by  the  strongest  of  all  bonds,  that  of 
active  and  loving  service? 

Such  ideas  were  the  leaven  in  the  meal,  which  silently 
were  everywhere  at  work  until  the  whole  was  leavened,  or,  to 
revert  to  the  original  figure,  these  influences  modified  and 
warmed  the  church  atmosphere  toward  the  youth  until  the 
good  seed,  once  more  planted  in  the  good  soil,  could  spring  up 
and  bear  abundant  fruitage  everywhere. 

It  is  altogether  probable,  too,  that  many  of  the  mistakes 
and  failures  made  by  pastors  and  churches  in  caring  for  the 
young  people  did  their  full  share  toward  hastening  the  dawn- 
ing of  the  day  of  this  modern  young  people's  movement.  The 
writer  himself  pleads  guilty  to  his  full  share  of  these  mistaker 
and  failures,  and  on  that  account  can  speak  of  them  with  free- 
dom and  without  offence.  Most  of  these  mistakes  lay  along 
the  line  of  doing  too  much  for  the  young  people 

Mistakes  J  r>    r        r 

and  rather  than  allowing  them  to  do  what  they  could 

for  themselves  and  others.  Our  Lord's  command 
was  practically  inverted,  and  "Not  to  minister,  but  to  be  min- 
istered unto,"  the  design  of  many,  might  have  been  the  motto 
of  many  of  these  abortive  attempts  to  interest  and  help  the 
young. 

With  the  very  best  intentions,  but  often  with  very  indifTer- 
ent  results,  everything  possible  was  done  to  interest  and  attract 
the  boys  and  girls.  Reading-rooms  were  sometimes  furnished, 
debating-societies  started,  musical  clubs  organized;  teas  and 
suppers    and   picnics   were    the    order   of   the    day    in    many 


The  Soil,  the  Seed   and  the  Climate.         27 

churches.  It  became  a  standing  and  threadbare  pleasantry 
that  there  were  two  seasons  of  the  year  when  the  Sunday-school 
would  be  sure  to  be  full,  just  before  Christmas,  and  again  just 
before  the  midsummer  picnic.  From  the  very  nature  of  the 
case  the  Sunday-school  could  not  demand  from  its  members 
much  in  the  way  of  service.  The  scanty  hour  devoted  to  it 
must  be  filled  with  teaching.     Many  teachers  congratulated 


WiLLisTON    Church    Parsonage,    Portland,    Me., 
Where  the  first  Christian  Endeavor  society  was  formed. 

themselves  if  they  could  persuade  any  of  their  scholars  even  to 
glance  at  the  lesson  in  advance.  "How  can  we  attract  the 
young  people?  How  can  we  win  them  to  the  church?"  were 
the  perennial  subjects  of  ministers'  meetings  and  conferences, 
but  we  seldom  heard  it  asked:  "How  can  we  set  them  at 
work  for  the  church?  What  can  we  give  them  to  do  for 
Christ?"     The  typical  ministers'  meeting  which  I   attended 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

many  years  ago,  just  before  the  formation  of  the  first  Christian 
Endeavor  society,  comes  to  my  mind  as  I  write.  The  subject 
was  the  one  which  was  even  then  familiar  and  well  worn, 
/What  shall  we  do  for  the  young  people?  How  can  we  in  any 
measure  stop  the  dreadful  leak  between  the  Sunday-school  and 
the  church?  How  can  we  save  the  children  of  the  church 
themselves,  those  who  were  in  a  sense  born  into  her  fellow- 
ship, and  who  she  had  a  right  to  expect  would  grow  up  into 
her  communion  and  service? 

In  some  form  this  old  but  imperious  question  was  being 
discussed.  Various  remedies,  and  more  or  less  successful  ef- 
forts, were  reported,  when  one  young  man,  with  the  air  of 
knowing  it  all,  arose  and  said  that  he  had  solved  the  problem. 
He  had  won  all  the  boys  and  girls  to  his  side  and  to  the  side 
of  the  church.  And  how  did  he  do  it?  Why,  simply  by  the 
aid  of  ''the  succulent  oyster."     He  had  brought  the 

Service,  .       -^  ^ 

not  boys  together  and  given  them  an  oyster  supper,  and 

'then  had  invited  the  girls,  and  treated  them  in  the 
same  manner;  and  now  they  were  all  his  friends  and  the 
friends  of  the  church. 

To  one  other  young  minister  in  that  assembly  this  solution 
of  the  most  serious  problem  in  the  church  life  of  the  times  was 
a  woful  disappointment,  perhaps  because  he  himself  had  made 
some  poor  and  useless  efforts  of  a  similar  kind.  In  any  event, 
he  went  away  disappointed  and  none  the  wiser;  but  his  mind 
Was  gradually  working  out  the  problem,  and  from  the  very 
failure  of  these  poor  makeshifts  at  Christian  nurture  he  came 
to  see  that  there  must  be  something  more  earnest  and  strenuous, 
something  that  demanded  service  for  the  church,  and  not  sim- 
ply a  condescending  willingness  to  be  pleased  and  entertained 
by  the  church.  In  fact,  he  came  to  see  that  the  order  of  our 
Lord's  life-motto  could  not  be  reversed,  but  that  those  who 
should  be  won  for  the  Christian  life  must  minister,  and  not 
merely  be  ministered  unto. 


The  Soil,  the  Seed   and  the  Climate.         29 

But  the  entertainment  idea  had  taken  deep  root  every- 
where in  the  church  a  generation  ago.  On  my  first  visit  to 
Great  Britain  in  the  interests  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  So- 
ciety one  minister  in  an  ecclesiastical  assemblage  objected  to 
the  Society  because  there  was  "too  much  prayer-meeting,  and 
too  little  lawn-tennis."  For  his  part,  he  said,  he  thought  it 
quite  as  much  the  duty  of  his  young  people  to  play  lawn-ten- 
nis as  to  go  to  the  prayer-meeting,  and  he  would  as  soon  think 
of  pledging  them  to  one  duty  as  the  other. 

However,  the  failures  of  lawn-tennis,  of  pink  teas,  and 
Christmas  trees,  and  summer  picnics  to  strengthen  the  church 
and  develop  the  religious  life  of  the  young  people  soon  made 
themselves  evident;  and  these  many  and  varied  failures  were 
not  the  least  important  means  of  preparing  the  Christian  world 
for  an  organization  which  should  plant  itself  firmly  and  un- 
equivocally on  the  basis  of  service  for  others  for  Christ's  sake. 

Thus  was  the  atmosphere  made  ready  for  the  upspringing 
of  the  good  seed  in  the  good  soil. 

A  new  variety  of  fruit,  however,  must  have  some  one 
starting-place,  some  garden  in  which  it  may  first  be  developed 
X*'^    .  and  broup;ht   to   greater   or   less    perfection ;    then 

Experi=  00  r  1 

mental  sccds     and  shoots   are  easily  multiplied   until   the 

of^*^  world  is  filled  with  them.     Every  country,  and  al- 

Endeavm-  ^lost  cvcry  State  in  our  own  land,  has  now  its  exper- 
imental farm,  where  new  seeds  are  tested  and  new  varieties 
of  fruits  and  flowers  are  given  a  chance  to  show  whether  they 
are  worth  the  ground  they  occupy.  Burbank,  the  plant-wiz- 
ard of  California,  is  conducting  these  experiments  on  an  enor- 
mous scale,  and  every  now  and  then  is  surprising  the  world 
with  some  entirely  wonderful  production  of  plant  life.  But 
even  Mr.  Burbank  has  to  acknowledge  that  many  of  his  ex- 
periments are  fruitless.  Not  one  efifort  in  a  hundred,  perhaps 
not  one  in  a  thousand,  brings  forth  a  new  and  really  valuable 
variety  of  fruit  or  flower. 


30  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

In  some  such  way,  though  often  unconsciously,  and  of  no 
set  purpose,  experiments  are  being  carried  on  in  the  moral  and 
religious  world.  Many  of  them  are  necessarily  failures,  so  far 
as  any  large  results  follow;  but  they  are  all  useful,  at  least  in 
showing  how  not  to  do  it;  and  from  a  thousand  plants,  perhaps, 
will  spring  one  really  desirable  scion. 


WiLLisTON    Chapel,    Portland,    ]\Ie., 
Where  the  first  Christian  Endeavor  society  met. 

Williston  Church  in  Portland,  Me.,  seems  to  have  been 
chosen  by  Providence  as  the  experimental  farm  for  the  devel- 
opment of  a  new  variety  of  organization  for  young  people. 
The  pastor  of  the  church  was  by  no  means  an  ecclesiastical 
Burbank;  but  he  had  the  advantage  of  making  various  experi- 
ments which  he  found  to  be  failures,  and  of  being  turned  by 


The  Soil,  the  Seed  and  the  Climate.         31 

these  failures  to  the  development  of  another  and  more  fruitful 
form  of  organization.  This  church  was  well  adapted  to  such 
experimental  work.  It  was  young,  as  well  as  its  pastor.  It 
was  only  eight  years  from  its  formation  to  the  time  when  the 
first  Endeavor  society  was  started.  It  was  buoyant,  hopeful, 
and  full  of  large  expectations  for  the  future.  It  had  no  an- 
cient traditions  to  hamper  it.  Its  affairs  need  not  forever  be 
managed  in  the  same  way  because  they  always  had  been  thus 
managed.  The  first  part  of  Peter's  declaration  concerning 
the  use  of  unclean  animals  was  never  used  as  a  text  in  that  pul- 
pit, "Not  so.  Lord,  for  I  never  have."  The  people  were  quite 
willing  that  their  young  pastor,  whose  good  intentions,  at 
least,  they  believed  in,  should  go  ahead  and  do  about  as  he 
pleased,  so  long  as  he  did  not  preach  heresy  in  the  pulpit,  or 
neglect  the  services  of  the  sanctuary  or  his  parish  duties. 
^P^g  More  than  all,  Williston  Church  was  a  most 

Composition  favorable  experimental  ground  for  a  new  organiza- 
Wiiiiston  tion  for  young  people  since  its  membership  was 
very  largely  made  up  of  young  people.  The  only 
elderly  man  was  the  white-haired  senior  deacon,  whose  heart 
was  as  young  as  the  youngest,  and  who,  had  he  lived  to  watch 
the  progress  of  the  Endeavor  movement,  would  have  rejoiced 
in  it  as  perhaps  no  one  else.  All  the  other  members  of  the 
church,  almost  without  exception,  were  on  the  sunny  side  of 
forty,  if  we  may  assume  that  the  younger  side  is  the  sunnier, 
which,  however,  is  an  open  question  that  need  not  be  discussed 
here.  There  were  not  a  few  boys  and  girls  from  twelve  years 
old  and  upwards ;  for,  though  on  one  occasion  a  member  of  the 
church  committee  in  examining  candidates  asked  one  of  the 
trembling  young  disciples  the  old  test  question  of  sterner  Puri- 
tan days,  whether  she  would  be  willing  to  be  damned  for  the 
glory  of  God,  the  question  was  not  pressed,  and  children  and 
young  people  who  gave  credible  evidence  of  conversion  and  a 
purpose  to  lead  a  new  life  in  and  for  Christ  Jesus  were  always 


32  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

gladly  and  affectionately  welcomed  into  the  church-member- 
ship. 

Moreover,  all  the  members  of  this  church  had  recently 
come  together.  Its  growth  had  been  very  rapid  during  the 
last  three  or  four  years,  and  there  was  a  feeling  of  keen  sym- 
pathy and  joyous  fellowship  among  its  members  such  as  is 
rarely  exhibited  even  in  the  most  prosperous  of  churches. 
One  reason  for  this  was  that  they  had  worked  and  sacrificed 
together. 

The  church  had  been  organized  eight  years  before  in  a 
humble  wooden  mission  chapel,  where  for  some  time  a  Sun- 
day-school had  been  carried  on  by  the  State  Street  Church, 
one  of  the  weathiest  and  strongest  in  the  city.  Here  had  come 
together  a  few  like-minded  Christian  workers,  whose  persist- 
ent desire  was  to  carry  the  gospel  into  a  neglected  part  of  the 
city  and  care  for  the  poorer  people  of  the  region,  who  could 
not  or  would  not  go  to  the  more  fashionable  and  wealthy 
churches.  Their  self-sacrificing  labors  were  quickly  and 
abundantly  blessed,  and  new  members  were  added  to  the 
church  at  every  communion.  Some  wealthy  and  influential 
men  came  to  the  support  of  the  new  enterprise,  and  threw 
in  their  lot  with  the  struggling  church.  A  new  and  com- 
modious building  was  projected  soon  after  the  coming  of  their 
new  pastor,  a  building  which  required  all  the  resources  of  the 
struggling  church,  and  called  upon  its  members 
Local  for  no  little  self-denial.     The  prayer-meetings  of 

phere^^  WilHston  Church  soon  became  famous  throughout 
the  city  for  their  warmth  and  earnestness,  and  even 
on  Sunday  evenings  the  people  decided  that  a  prayer  service, 
which  often  overflowed  the  vestry  into  the  main  body  of  the 
church,  was  more  helpful  and  stimulating  to  their  religious 
life  than  a  more  formal  and  elaborate  service  would  be. 

Thus  the  local  atmosphere  was  exactly  favorable  to  the 
growth  of  the  new  seed  which  was  soon  to  be  planted.    But  one 


The  Soil,  the  Seed  and  the  Climate,,        33 

other  condition  was  lacking,  and  that  was  soon  supplied;  for 
an  unusually  gracious  revival  interest  was  aroused  among  the 
people  in  the  winter  of  1881  in  connection  with  the  Week  of 
Prayer.  In  anticipation  of  this  week  the  pastor  had  preached 
and  prayed.  Expectation  of  an  unusual  blessing  was  aroused. 
A  special  day  of  prayer  by  the  whole  church  preceded  it. 
Prayer-meetings  were  held  in  connection  with  the  Sunday- 
school  service  after  the  first  Sunday  of  January,  1881.  The 
expected,  and  not  the  unexpected,  occurred.  That  which  had 
been  longed  for  and  prayed  for  came  to  pass.  Revival  inter- 
est was  awakened,  as  had  been  the  case  during  the  four  preced- 
ing years  of  this  pastorate  in  connection  with  the  Week  of 
Prayer;  but  in  1881  the  interest  was  more  general  and  intense 

than  before.  Many  young  people  were  led  to  de- 
Revivai  cidc  to  livc  for  Christ  and  to  acknowledge  Him  by 
the^ociJty  joining  the  church,  and  just  at  this  juncture,  when 
was  not  only  the   general   atmosphere   throughout  the 

country  was  ready  to  welcome  a  new  religious 
movement,  but  when  the  special  and  individual  climate,  if  I 
may  so  speak,  of  that  particular  church  was  most  congenial  to 
the  new  and  tender  plant,  the  seed  was  dropped  into  the  mel- 
low soil  of  youthful  ardor  and  devotion,  and  the  first  society 
of  Christian  Endeavor  sprang  up,  and  the  movement,  of  which 
the  future  chapters  of  this  book  will  tell,  had  begun.  The 
Society,  let  it  ever  be  remembered,  was  born  in  a  revival. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  GENESIS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR 

SOCIETY. 

THE  BIRTH  OF  THE  SOCIETY;  ITS  SUPREME  PURPOSE;  AND 
THE  WAY  IN  WHICH  THE  CHARTER  MEMBERS  AC- 
CEPTED THEIR  PASTOR'S  SUGGESTIONS  ARE  DESCRIBED 
IN  THIS  CHAPTER. 

"  The  Society  commends  itself  to  me  by  proving  itself  at 
once  spiritual  and  practical,  strong  and  supple.  I  appreciate 
its  unity  and  variety,  and,  finally,  its  high  value  as  developing 
simultaneously  a  spirit  of  ecclesiastical  loyalty  and  of  Christian 
solidarity,  the  latter  being  symbolized  by  the  common  title 
w^hich  unites  all  the  societies  under  one  wide  banner,  while  it 
leaves  to  each  of  them  perfect  liberty." 

Rev.   Theodore  Monod,  Paris. 

ROMANTIC  interest  always  attaches  to  a  birth, 
however  humble  and  unimportant.  The  fluffy 
chicken  peeping  through  the  broken  eggshell, 
and  facing  the  sun  for  the  first  time  with  its  un- 
accustomed eyes;  the  butterfly  crawling  out  of 
the  chrysalis  before  it  has  once  dared  to  use  its  untried  wings, 
are  eagerly  watched  by  every  lover  of  life,  because  something 
new  is  stirring.  Into  a  new  body  has  come  that  wonderful, 
unexplainable  principle  called  life.  Even  an  incubator  in  a 
shop  window  will  always  attract  more  attention  than  a  dis- 
play of  the  richest  and  costliest  goods. 

The  birth  of  a  new  organization  which  has  a  mission  to 
perform  in  the  world  may  occur  in  most  humble  and  obscure 
circumstances.  In  fact,  it  usually  does  so  occur,  but  it  is  nev- 
ertheless of  interest  even  in  its  least  important  details. 

34 


Genesis  of  the  Society. 


35 


The 
Story 
of   a 
Birth. 


In  describing  the  birth  of  the  first  society  of  Christian 
Endeavor  I  think  I  cannot  do  better  than  to  quote  the  story 
as  written  out  by  me  some  years  since,*  when  the  circumstances 
were  freshly  and  vividly  in  mind: — 

The  second  day  of  February,  1881,  proved  to 
be  one  of  the  bitterly  cold  days  in  the  calendar  of 
the  year;  and  Maine  knows  something  about  cold 
weather,  as  my  readers  who  have  the  good  fortune 
to  live  in  the  Pine-Tree  State  can  testify.     Snow  covered  the 
ground  and  the  house-tops,  and  glitter-  ^,~^-,.^ 

ing  icicles  like  stalactites  of  diamonds  \ 

hung  on  the  eaves. 

The  crisp  snow  creaked  under  the 
runners  of  the  flying  sleighs,  and  the 
coasting  and  skating  were  excellent. 
But  in  spite  of  these  outdoor  attractions 
of  a  northern  winter  the  young  people 
accepted  an  invitation  from  their  pastor 
and  his  wife  to  come  to  the  parsonage. 
Various  savory  and  spicy  odors 
from  the  kitchen  were  wafted  upwards 
to  the  pastor's  study  throughout  the 
morning  of  that  day,  for  the  Mizpah 
Circle  were  coming  to  tea,  and  the  pastor's  wife  desired  to 
treat  them  with  due  hospitality. 

In  the  afternoon  some  forty  girls  and  boys,  with  a  few 
young  ladies,  gathered  for  the  usual  meeting  of  the  Mizpah 
Circle,  and  after  tea  were  joined  by  their  older  brothers  and 
sisters.  Conspicuous  among  the  older  ones  were  Mr.  W.  H. 
Pennell  and  his  fine  Sunday-school  class  of  young  men.  After 
a  little  general  conversation  as  to  the  importance  of  starting 
right,  of  working  for  the  church,  and  of  showing  one's  colors 
for  Christ  on  all  occasions,  the  pastor  with  a  good  deal  of  hesi- 

*  In  "  World-Wide  Endeavor." 


IMrs.  Francis  E.  Clark. 


36  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

tation  produced  a  constitution  whiose  germs  had  lain  in  his 
mind  for  a  long  while,  but  which  he  had  written  out  for  the 
first  time  that  day. 

He  was  afraid  that  its  strenuous  covenant  would  not  com- 
mend it  to  the  young  people,  that  they  would  be  afraid  of  its 
strictly  religious  character,  that  they  would  not  find  enough 
of  the  oyster-supper  and  "pink-tea"  element  in  it  to  win  their 
approval ;  but  ever  since  his  weak  faith  and  lack  of  knowledge 
of  young  hearts  have  been  rebuked  by  their  acceptance  of  this 
constitution  and  by  the  loyal  adhesion  to  it  of  millions  of  like- 
minded  youth. 

^(^g  It  was  proposed  in  this  document,  which  the 

Object  minister  that  morning  brought  down  from  his  study, 

and  the  fe  fa  J ) 

Member=       that    the    society  should  be  called  the  "Williston 
''*'  Young  People's   Society  of  Christian  Endeavor." 

Its  object  was  declared  to  be  "to  promote  an  earnest  Christian 
life  among  its  members,  to  increase  their  mutual  acquaintance, 
and  to  make  them  more  useful  in  the  service  of  God."  It  pro- 
vided also  that  there  should  be  two  classes  of  members,  "ac- 
tive and  associate,"  the  active  members  being  those  who  sin- 
cerely desired  to  accomplish  the  results  above  specified,  and 
the  associate  members  those  who  were  not  willing  to  consider 
themselves  decided  Christians,  but  who  desired  the  privileges 
and  companionships  of  the  society. 

The  leading  committees  were  defined  in  the  same  way 
as  they  are  now  defined  in  the  constitution  of  the  Society,  and 
it  was  soon  provided  that  they  should  make  a  report  to  the  soci- 
ety at  the  monthly  business-meeting  concerning  the  work  of 
the  past  month.  But,  as  in  these  days,  so  also  in  that  early  day, 
everything  pivoted  on  the  prayer-meeting.  The  most  impor- 
tant clause  of  the  constitution  related  to  the  prayer-meeting, 
which  stated,  ''It  is  expected  that  all  the  active  members  of 
this  society  will  he  present  at  every  meeting  unless  detained 
by  some  absolute  necessity,  and  that  each  one  will  take  some 


Genesis  of  the  Society.  37 

part,  however  slight,  in  every  meeting."  This  sentence  was 
underscored;  and,  when  the  constitution  was  printed,  it  was 
put  in  italics,  which  symbolizes  the  way  in  which  it  has  been 

CONSTITUTION. 


Fac-5iinile  of  Original  Constitution. 


A 


^ 


COPrRlGHT,  1895 

The   Genesis   of  Christian    Endeavor. 
Facsimile  of  the  First  Page  of  the  Original  Constitution. 

engraved,   underscored,    and   italicized   on   the   heart  of  the 
Christian  Endeavor  movement  from  that  day  to  this. 

Moreover,    this    article    concerning    the    prayer-meeting 
went  on  to  state  that  once  each  month  an  experience-meeting 


38  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

should  be  held,  "at  which  meeting  each  member  shall  speak 
concerning  his  progress  in  the  Christian  life  for  the 
Piv^otai  past  month."  "If  any  one  chooses,  he  can  express 
Meeting.  J^-^  fge^jj^gg  j^y  ^n  appropriate  verse  of  Scripture." 
"It  is  expected,  if  any  one  is  obliged  to  be  absent  from  this 
experience-meeting,  he  will  send  his  reason  for  absence  by 
some  one  who  attends."  Moreover,  at  the  close  of  the  month- 
ly experience-meeting,  the  constitution  specifies  that  "the  roll 
shall  be  called,  and  the  response  of  the  active  members  who 
are  present  shall  be  considered  a  renewed  expression  of  alle- 
giance to  Christ.  If  any  member  is  absent  from  the  monthly 
experience-meeting  and  fails  to  send  an  excuse,  the  lookout 
committee  is  expected  to  take  the  name  of  such  a  one,  and  in 
a  kindly  and  brotherly  spirit  ascertain  the  reason  of  the 
absence.  If  any  member  of  this  society  is  absent  and 
unexcused  from  three  consecutive  experience-meetings,  such  a 
one  ceases  to  be  a  member  of  the  society,  and  his  name  shall  be 
stricken  from  the  list  of  members."  v' 

It  will  be  noticed,  that,  word  for  word,  this  original  con- 
stitution has  in  all  important  particulars  been  followed  by  the 
vast  majority  of  the  almost  numberless  millions  of  copies  of 
constitutions  printed  since,  though  there  is  no  compulsion  in 
this  matter,  and  every  society  may  frame  its  own  constitution 
in  general  conformity  to  the  Christian  Endeavor  idea.  The 
object  of  the  Society  was  defined  in  the  same  way  then  as  now. 
The  two  classes  of  members  were  distinguished  from  each 
other  by  the  same  definition  then  as  now.  The  committees,  so 
far  as  they  were  outlined  at  all,  were  assigned  the  same  duties 
in  that  original  constitution  as  they  now  assume  wherever 
they  are  found. 

The  provision  for  the  consecration-meeting  was  complete 
from  the  first,  and  the  same  words  are  used  now  as  then,  with 
the  exception  that  it  was  in  those  days  called  an  "experience- 
meeting,"  a  name  which  was  often  applied  to  it  for  some  years, 


Genesis  of  the  Society.  39 

but  which  was  afterwards  dropped  for  the  broader  and  more 
significant  term  "consecration-meeting." 

This,  then,  was  the  document  which  the  pastor  on  that 
cold  February  evening  brought  down-stairs  to  his  young  peo- 
ple. No  wonder  that  he  felt  in  some  doubt  as  to  whether  they 
would  accept  its  strong  and  iron-clad  provisions.  With  a 
good  deal  of  natural  hesitation  he  presented  it  to  them,  and 
read  the  constitution  through,  page  by  page. 
How  ^    deathly    stillness    fell    upon    the    meeting. 

t*^^    .^  ^.     Those  strict  provisions  were  evidently  more  than  the 

Constitution  .  ^  -^ 

was  young  people  had  bargained  for.     They  had  not 

Received.        ,  ^  j     ,       ,    i  i      •  i  •     •  i       • 

been  accustomed  to  take  their  religious  duties  so 
seriously.  Nothing  of  the  sort  had  ever  been  heard  of  in  that 
church,  or,  to  their  knowledge,  in  any  church,  before.  To 
some  of  them  it  seemed  that  more  was  expected  of  them  than 
of  the  deacons  even,  and  other  officers  of  the  church;  and  they 
felt  keenly  their  own  inexperience  and  awkwardness  in  Chris- 
tian service. 

It  was  simply  a  company  of  average  young  people.  Not 
many  mighty,  not  many  learned,  were  there;  but  this  company 
was  another  of  the  weak  things  which  God  used  to  confound 
the  mighty.  These  young  men  and  women  were  as  bashful, 
as  timid  and  retiring,  as  any  similar  company  probably. 
Among  them  was  not  a  single  unpleasantly  precocious  young 
Christian.  There  was  no  prig  in  all  that  room,  imbued  with 
the  smug  consciousness  that  he  was  "not  as  other  men." 

They  were  active,  energetic,  fun-loving  young  people, 
just  such  as  can  be  gathered  in  any  church  to-day. 

But  they  were  Christian  young  people.  Their  hearts 
were  touched  by  love  for  Him  who  gave  Himself  for  them, 
and  they  sincerely  desired  to  do  His  will. 

As  I  said,  a  considerable  and  painful  silence  fell  upon 
the  meeting  when  this  constitution  with  its  serious  provisions 
was  proposed.     It  seemed  as  if  the  society  would  die  still-born. 


40  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

and  be  simply  a  creature  of  the  pastor's  imagination.  But 
God  ordered  it  otherwise.  In  that  company  were  two  who 
were  especially  influential  and  helpful  in  launching  the  little 
craft.     These  were  Mr.  W.  H.  Pennell,  before  mentioned, 


5- 

/^ 
//. 

J3 

yd: 

j6. 

n- 


//OUa.^*^^^c^ 


First  Twenty  Names  of  the  Original   Members. 

and  the  pastor's  wife.  Seeing  that  the  matter  was  likely  to  fall 
through,  at  least  for  that  meeting,  Mr.  Pennell  affixed  his  sig- 
nature to  the  constitution,  and  called  upon  his  class  of  young 


Genesis  of  the  Society.  41 

men  to  do  the  same.  Mrs.  Clark  quietly  circulated  among 
the  girls  of  the  Mizpah  Circle,  persuading  them  that  it  was  not 
such  a  "dreadful"  promise  to  make  as  they  at  first  supposed, 
telling  them  that  any  earnest  young  person  could  live  up  to  the 
provisions  of  this  constitution,  and  promising  herself  to  be  an 
active  member,  though  at  first  she  shrunk  from  the  pledge  as 
much  as  any  of  them. 

One  by  one  the  young  men  and  women  affixed  their  names  to 
the  document,  a  few  more  minutes  were  spent  in  conversation, 
a  closing  prayer  was  offered  and  a  hymn  sung,  and  the  young 
people  went  out  into  the  frosty  night  to  their  homes,  with  many 
a  merry  "Good-night,"  "Good-night,"  to  each  other;  and  the 
first  society  of  Christian  Endeavor  was  formed. 


CHAPTER  III. 

SOME  FIRST  THINGS. 

THE  FIRST  PRAYER-MEETING,  THE  FIRST  LEADERS^ 
THE  FIRST  SOCIAL  GATHERINGS,  AND  THE  FIRST  COM- 
MITTEES ARE  THE  SUBJECT  OF  THIS  CHAPTER. 

"  This  admirable  movement  has  alreadj^  survived  the  peril 
of  being  a  '  novelty.'  There  is  a  cemetery  for  religious  and 
benevolent  enterprises  just  at  that  point  where  novelty  dies  out, 
and  plenty  of  them  have  had  Christian  burial  in  that  '  potter's 
field.'  By  God's  good  guidance  and  rich  blessing  the  Christian 
Endeavorers  have  left  that  fatal  spot  far  behind,  and  are 
marching  on,  two  million  strong.  May  the  societies  live  on,  to 
march  into  the  millennial  morning  with  colors  flying  and  the 
dear  name  of  the  Crucified  on  every  ensign." 

Rev.  Theodore  Cuyler,  D.D.,  in  l8p4. 

LTHOUGH  the  first  society  of  Christian  Endeav- 
or was  born,  it  had  not  yet  begun  its  work,  nor 
had  it  proved  its  right  to  live.  The  easiest  thing 
in  the  world  to  do  is  to  start  a  new  organization. 
It  requires  little  genius  or  foresight,  and  no  tact 
and  patient  persistence.  But  to  keep  an  organization  alive,  to 
foster  it  so  that  it  shall  increase  in  strength  and  stature  and  in 
favor  with  God  and  man — that  is  difficult.  Thousands 
of  young  people's  organizations,  in  the  church  and  out,  have 
been  born  only  to  die  an  inglorious  death,  ''unwept,  unhon- 
ored,  and  unsung."  Such  organizations  had  been  started  be- 
fore in  Williston  Church,  and  had  come  to  their  natural  end 
in  a  longer  or  shorter  space  of  time.  These  failures  caused 
the  new  organization  to  be  looked  upon,  even  by  its  warmest 
friends  and  advocates,  with  something  of  doubt  and  fear,  if  not 

42 


Some  First  Things.  43 

of  distrust.  Would  it  go  the  way  of  all  the  others?  Would 
it  flourish  famously  for  a  few  weeks,  and  then  "peter  out,"  in 
^  the  expressive  language  of  the  boys  of  that  period? 

E^^'dm  nt  ^^  ^"^  could  answer  these  questions,  or  pretended 
to.  The  new  society  was  an  acknowledged  experi- 
ment, but  an  experiment  undertaken  modestly,  but  with  trust 
in  God  for  results,  and  with  "faith  triumphant  o'er  our  fears." 
The  first  prayer-meeting  of  the  society  was  held  a  few 
days  after  the  organization  described  in  the  last  chapter,  and 
on  a  Friday  evening,  the  regular  eve- 
ning for  the  young  people's  meeting  in 
that  church.  The  pastor,  at  least,  went 
to  that  meeting  with  not  a  little  anxiety. 
He  had  staked  much  in  his  own  mind 
upon  this  new  organization.  It  was, 
he  almost  felt,  his  last  hope ;  for  he  had 
tried  other  plans  of  interesting,  enter- 
taining, and  thus  winning  the  young 
people,  with  very  indifferent  success. 
But  this  first  prayer-meeting  of  the 
new  society  surpassed  his  fondest  ex- 
pectations. It  was  a  revelation,  to  him 
and  to  all  who  attended  it,  of  what  a  ^-  J-  ^''"  P^"^"- 

young  people's  meeting  might  be.  Nothing  like  it  before  had 
ever  been  held  in  Williston  Church,  noted  as  that  church  was, 
in  limited  circles,  at  least,  for  its  good  prayer-meetings. 

A  young  man  *  was  in  the  chair  as  leader  of  that  first  meet- 
ing, who  was  experienced  and  gifted  in  such  service ;  but  he  did 
not  have  to  do  it  all,  or  exhort  any  one  to  "occupy  the  time,"  or 
overwork  the  hymn-book  in  efiforts  to  prevent  the  hour  from 
dragging  too  wearily.  For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  that 
church,  at  least,  all  who  attended  the  meeting  felt  some  obliga- 
tion  to  sustain  it.     They  were  not  eloquent  or  wise,   these 

*  Mr.  Granville   Staples,  the  first  president  of  the  society. 


44  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

young  people;  but  the  meeting  was  theirs  in  a  peculiar  sense, 
and  they  were  there  not  merely  to  listen  and  absorb,  but  to  give 
out  and  to  help. 

The  result  was  that,  instead  of  the  three  or  four  little  ser- 
monettes  and  long  prayers  which  had  heretofore  filled  up  the 
hour  of  the  young  people's  meeting,   forty  young 
First  people,  more  or  less,  with  Scripture  verses  and  sen- 

me^etfne.       tences  of  prayer,  and  some  of  the  more  experienced 
with  longer  testimonies  or  exhortations,  were  heard 
in  those  precious  and  prophetic  sixty  minutes  devoted  to  the 
first  genuine  Christian  Endeavor  prayer-meeting. 

The  singing,  too,  took  on  new  life  and  vigor;  for  it  was 
their  own  singing;  their  own  chosen  hymns  were  suggested;  in 
fact,  in  every  sense  it  was  their  own  meeting.  It  was  evidently 
the  little  clause  relating  to  the  prayer-meeting  which  had 
wrought  this  marvellous  change.  This  clause,  which  was 
afterwards  expanded  into  the  prayer-meeting  pledge,  read  as 
follows : 

"It  is  expected  that  all  the  members  of  the  society  will  be 
present  at  every  meeting,  unless  detained  by  some  absolute 
necessity,  and  that  each  one  will  take  some  part,  however 
slight,  in  every  meeting." 

But  this  meeting,  though  the  first,  was  by  no  means  the 
hist  of  t'^e  series,  nor  was  it  the  best,  for  each  successive  meet- 
ing seemed  to  grow  in  interest  and  power.  Numbers  in- 
creased rapidly.  Young  men  and  women  who  never  thought 
of  going  to  a  prayer-meeting  before  were  attracted  to  this 
one.  When  they  came  once,  they  came  again,  and  often  were 
soon  enrolled  as  earnest  Christians  and  active  members  of  the 
society.  The  halting,  stumbling,  btSt  genuinely  sincere,  utter- 
ances of  these  young  disciples,  the  heartiness  of  their  singing, 
the  very  Scripture  verses  which  they  made  their  own  as  they 
brought  them  to  the  meeting,  gave  new  power  and  a  perennial 
interest  to  a  meeting  which  before  had  often  been  a  dragging 


Some  First  Things.  45 

discouragement  to  pastor  and  young  people  alike.  No  longer 
now  did  the  pastor  look  forward  with  apprehension  to  the 
Friday  evening  meeting,  but  with  eager  anticipation  as  to  a 
place  where  he  should  himself  gain  spiritual  help  and  new 
courage  for  his  work,  and  in  which  his  part,  if  he  chose,  might 
be  as  slight  as  that  of  the  youngest  boy. 

In  fact,  though  always  present  and  always  participating, 
he  rarely  led  a  meeting,  preferring  to  sit  with  the  young  men 
as  one  of  them,  and  giving  the  responsibility  and  educational 
advantage  of  leadership  to  those  who  needed  it  most,  some- 
times the  very  youngest  boys  and  girls  in  the  society. 

Of  course  it  will  not  be  supposed  that  a  high  order  of  lit- 
Spread=  crary  merit  was  always  attained  in  these  meetings, 
eagle  nor  that  the  graces  of  fluent  eloquence  and  oratory 

Oratory  ... 

Discour=  were  often  exhibited.  In  fact,  eloquence  and  ora- 
^^^  *  tory  were   rather  discouraged,   and   anything  like 

bombastic  spread-eagleism  would  have  seemed  too  absurd  to 
be  indulged  in  such  a  time  and  place. 

There  were,  to  be  sure,  a  few  among  the  older  members 
who  were  educated,  experienced,  and  gifted ;  but  it  was  under- 
stood by  all  that  the  young  people's  meeting  was  no  place  to 
display  gifts  or  graces  of  speech,  but  simply  for  outspoken  ac- 
knowledgment of  the  religious  purpose,  a  place  for  the  ex- 
pression, however  poor  and  halting  the  words  used,  of  the 
dominant  purpose  of  life  to  serve  Christ  and  to  help  others. 

This  thought  entirely  revolutionized  the  prayer-meeting 
idea  of  that  church  so  far  as  the  young  people  were  con- 
cerned. It  was  not  a  place  primarily  for  instruction,  for 
learned  essays  or  homilies,  or  even  for  "edification"  in  the  old- 
fashioned  sense  of  that  term.  It  w^as  a  place  for  arousing  the 
dormant  religious  life,  for  training  and  practice  in  the  expres- 
sion of  that  life,  for  the  development  of  courage  in  acknowl- 
edging one's  convictions,  of  sympathy  for  those  who  were 
struggling  forward  on  the  same  up-hill  road  to  the  Celestial 


46 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


City,  and  of  encouragement  to  the  weakest  and  humblest  who, 
thus  comparing  notes,  as  it  were,  with  others  in  the  same  stage 
of  religious  development,  would  gain  a  help  that  they  could 
never  get  from  the  learned  and  the  experienced. 

In  my  opinion  the  true  prayer-meeting  idea  a  quarter  of  a 
century  ago  was  in  danger  of  being  lost,  as  indeed  it  is  now  in 
some  individual  churches.  The  idea  of  instruction  was  dom- 
inating it.     It  had  become  the  unwritten  law  in  many  a  church 


iSIF  ITS  PASTOR.  ESTABLISH  ED  Of: 

i-^sr  SOCIETY  or  christ 

5  SPOT  THE  SOCIETY  HAS  SPH, 
iiNDERTHE  PROViDENCr  OFO 
"^TH  IN  EVERY  LAND.  C  't  I  R. 

EUROPE, AFRICA. 

ilETHANNFVERS/. 

\RY  SECQND.lOOUiAv, 

iRISTIANENDEAVGR./ 
.  JR. CH Rl STANDI:  _  -  , 


iHS»p»'W<»*?"iW«5" 


•T!?! 


iii)jii|ji)iii  f  i^iwy^wy^ww 


Memorial  Tablet, 
Williston    Church,    Portland,   Me. 

that  only  those  who  were  gifted  and  well  educated  could  '^take 
part  to  edification"  in  the  prayer-meeting. 

This  idea  had  already  borne  disastrous  fruit  in  many  a 
church  which  had  practically  given  up  the  social  midweek 
meeting  free  to  all  for  participation,  and  had  substituted  the 
midweek  lecture,  practically  another  little  sermon  to  burden 
the  pastor,  and  often  to  prove  of  small  benefit  to  the  few  who 
heard  it.  But  the  radical  idea  that  there  was  a  place  for  all 
in  the  young  people's  meeting,  and  a  part  that  all  could  take, 
however  timid,  bashful,  or  ignorant,  revolutionized  and  re- 


Some  First  Things.  47 

vivified  that  dying  young  people's  meeting  in  Williston 
Churchi,  as  it  has  done  to  many  another  wherever  the  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  idea  has  extended. 

As  has  been  said,  not  only  were  the  youngest  and  most 
Youne  inexperienced  young  people  expected  to  take  part 

Leaders  in  the  meeting,  but  they  were  expected  to  lead  it  as 
Christian  well;  and  this  leadership  of  the  weak  proved  by  no 
means  weak  leadership,  for  with  redoubled  readi- 
ness and  earnestness  the  others  w^ould  rally  to  the  help  of  their 
inexperienced  and  sometimes  sadly  flustrated  companions;  and 
all  would  pronounce  this  meeting  at  the  end  the  very  best 
of  all. 

,  One  of  these  early  meetings  I  remember  w^ith  peculiar 
interest  because  of  the  entire  inadequacy  of  the  leadership 
from  the  oratorical  point  of  view.  It  was  the  first  attempt  of 
this  boy  of  thirteen  or  fourteen,  who  had  but  just  begun  the 
Christian  life.  The  subject  of  the  meeting  was  "Christian 
Heroism,"  or  willingness  to  endure  ridicule  for  Christ's  sake. 
The  boy  leader  gave  out  the  hymn,  and  stumbled  through  the 
Scripture  passage,  evidently  in  great  trepidation;  but,  when 
it  came  to  giving  his  few  words  of  explanation  or  exhortation, 
his  ideas  evidently  forsook  him.  "If  you  are  a  Christian, — " 
he  began,  and  could  get  no  further.  "If  you  are  a  Christian, 
— "  he  said  once  more,  and  there  was  another  pause.  "What 
you  scared  of,  anyway?"  was  his  only  comment,  and  he  sat 
down,  doubtless  inwardly  covered  with  shame  and  confusion 
of  face. 

But  it  proved  to  be  a  capital  opening  for  the  meeting. 
The  young  leader  had  shown  his  own  determination  and  cour- 
age, and  that  was  better  than  a  well-ordered  and  eloquent  dis- 
course on  Christian  heroism.  The  youngest  and  weakest  felt 
that  they  could  do  as  well  as  he;  and  so  the  meeting  went 
on  from  start  to  finish  with  prayer  and  song  and  testimony  and 
Scripture  quotation,  far  more  successfully,  doubtless,  than  if 


48 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


the  pastor  or  one  of  the  elders  had  sat  in  the  chair,  and  direct- 
ed the  thought  of  the  young  people. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  all  the  meetings  were  of 
exactly  this  type.  There  were  skilled  leaders  for  some  of 
them;  sometimes  the  opening  thought  was  contained  in  a  brief 
written  essay;  and  the  pastor  and  a  few  older  Endeavorers 
were  always  present  to  give  the  meeting  the  right  turn  if  inex- 
perience or  timidity  went  hopelessly  wrong.  In  fact,  there 
was  an  infinite  variety  to  these  meetings,  which  was  one  of 
their  perpetual  charms. 

But  there  were  other  "first  things"  in  this  new  society 
besides  the  first  prayer-meeting.  This  society  did  not  expend 
all  its  energies  upon  the  weekly  meetings  any  more  than  its 
thousands  of  successors.  This  was  rather  the  power-house 
where  were  obtained  the  spiritual  energy  and  fervor  which 
turned  all  the  wheels  of  the  society. 

The  first  social  gathering  was  quite  as  success- 
ful in  its  way  as  the  first  prayer-meeting.  A  social 
committee  had  been  appointed  at  the  very  outset, 
and  this  committee  felt  it  to  be  its  bus- 
iness and  privilege  to  make  this  first 
sociable  as  interesting  and  helpful  to 
all  as  it  could  possibly  be  made.  No 
wallflowers  were  allowed  to  adorn  the 
sides  of  the  room.  No  little  groups 
and  cliques  were  expected  to  spend  the 
evening  together  to  the  neglect  of  their 
companions.  It  was  a  bright,  breezy, 
entertaining  gathering;  and  all  went 
away  feeling  that  a  new  social  centre 
for  the  young  people  had  been  found, 
and  that  centre  the  church  to  which 
they  belonged. 

Rev.  C,  A.  Dickinson.  D.  D.  ^    .  ,  r     ■,       n  ,   •  , 

Los  An<:-eies  Cai  Another  of  the  nrst  thmgs  was  the 


The 

First 

Sociables. 


Some  First  Things.  49 

missionary  committee  with  its  activities.  The  Mizpah  Circle, 
before  alluded  to,  had  trained  the  girls  and  the  younger  boys  in 
missionary  activities;  and  it  was  not  hard  for  them  to  under- 
stand that  to  work  for  others  was  quite  as  essential  a  feature  of 
the  new  young  people's  society  as  to  pray  among  themselves. 
Pledge-cards  for  collecting  missionary  money  were  at  once  in- 
troduced, and  the  outlook  of  the  society  from  the  very  first  day 
embraced  not  only  Portland  and  its  charities,  and  the  needs 
of  America,  but  extended  to  India,  China,  Africa,  and  the 
islands  of  the  sea;  a  prophecy,  as  it  now  seems,  of  the  way  in 
which  this  little  society,  looking  out  from  Williston  Church 
to  the  very  ends  of  the  earth,  should  soon  go  out  into  these 
distant  countries  to  promote  their  evangelization  and  civili- 
zation. 

Other  committees  to  turn  the  musical  ability  of  the  soci- 
First  ^^^  ^^  good  account,   to  beautify  the  pulpit  with 

Coni=  flowers,  to  visit  the  sick  and  poor,  and  to  welcome 

mittees.  ^  ,  , 

strangers,  were  soon  formed  as  the  necessary  out- 
growth of  the  Christian  Endeavor  idea;  and  on  that  very 
first  evening  the  lookout  committee,  which  has  proved  so 
potent  a  factor  in  the  life  and  growth  of  the  whole  move- 
ment, was  inaugurated. 

Its  name  indicates  its  purpose.  It  was  to  look  out  over 
the  whole  field  of  the  society,  and  far  beyond  its  borders.  It 
was  to  find  new  members,  and  bring  them  in  and  introduce 
them  to  the  work  and  to  the  workers.  It  was  to  be  a  kind  of 
outside  conscience  to  the  indifferent  and  careless,  to  remind 
them  of  their  duties,  and  to  win  them  back  to  their  allegiance. 
In  a  sense,  indeed,  this  was  the  great  fly-wheel  of  the  society, 
which  was  to  keep  all  the  other  wheels  running.  Its  duties 
and  offices  were  perhaps  quite  as  original  as  any  other  feature 
of  the  new  organization,  and  it  has  proved  an  indispensable 
adiunct  wherever  the  Christian  idea  has  found  its  way. 

These  first  social  gatherings,  first  missionary  enterprises, 
4 


50  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

first  meetings,  first  committees,  were  only  the  first  in  a  long 
series  of  growingly  successful  efforts  to  help  the  young  and 
train  them  for  Christ  in  Williston  Church.  The  secret,  if  not 
of  perpetual  motion,  at  least  of  perpetual  rejuvenation  and 
renewal  of  energy  seemed  to  have  been  discovered.  This 
new  society  did  not  wane  and  dwindle  as  others  had  done  be- 
fore it.  The  love  of  the  members  did  not  wax  cold;  or,  if 
some  lost  their  first  energy  and  impulse  for  service,  others 
were  added,  and  laggards  were  revived,  so  that  the  numbers 
and  zeal  of  the  society  steadily  held  their  own  or  advanced. 

The  minister  did  not  have  to  push,  and  prod,  and  exhort, 
and  in  the  end  carry  the  burden  himself;  but  it  was  dis- 
tributed on  so  many  younger  shoulders  that  half  of  his  own 
previous  load  was  carried  by  them;  and,  with  the  young  peo- 
ple to  do  the  work  and  take  the  leadership  in  many 
^^earing  activities,  he  could  nevertheless  be  the  unseen 
BurdeiT*^*  power  behind  them,  keeping  his  hands  on  the  reins 
to  guide  the  little  chariot  where  he  deemed  best, 
and  always  keeping  in  touch  with  his  young  people,  as  he 
had  never  been  able  to  do  before  they  were  thus  carefully 
organized  for  Christian  service. 

In  other  words,  an  organization  as  nearly  self-governing 
and  self-propagating  as  any  organization  can  be  had  come 
into  existence  in  Williston  Church,  and  the  problem  which 
had  exercised  the  heart  of  this  pastor  and  thousands  of  others 
had  in  a  measure  been  solved.  It  is  not  out  of  place  to  add 
here,  perhaps,  that  after  a  quarter  of  a  century  the  original 
society  is  still  as  strong  and  vigorous  as  ever.  The  minister 
who  formed  the  society  remained  with  them  for  only  about 
three  years  after  its  organization.  Three  others  have  suc- 
ceeded him,  and  to-day  their  honored  pastor*  declares  that  the 
society  is  still  as  his  own  right  hand,  that  the  young  people 
are  unswervingly  loyal  and  true  to  their  obligations.     Genera- 

=^Rev.  Smith  Baker.  D.D. 


Some  First  Things.  51 

tion  has  succeeded  generation,  for  the  generations  in  a  young 
people's  society  are  necessarily  short-lived;  but  the  original 
spirit  animates  the  Williston  young  people  of  to-day.  They 
have  recently  raised  among  themselves  a  thousand  dollars  for 
their  beautiful  new  parish  house,  and  in  all  activities  for  their 
society,  for  their  church,  and  the  "regions  beyond"  they  main- 
tain all  the  zeal  and  devotion  of  the  original  Endeavorers. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
THE  EXODUS  OF  THE  SOCIETY. 

HEREIN  IS  FOUND  THE  STORY  OF  THE  BEGINNING  OF 
THE  SECOND  SOCIETY,  AFTER  EIGHT  MONTHS  OF  TEST- 
ING OF  THE  FIRST  IN  THE  WILLISTON  CHURCH,  AND 
THE  EARLIER  EVENTS  WHICH  HASTENED  THE  EXODUo 
INTO  ALL  THE  WORLD. 

"  The  coming  historian  will  characterize  the  nineteenth 
century  as  The  Age  of  New  Forces.  He  will  make  mention 
of  steam  and  electricity,  and  of  their  wonderful  application 
and  adjustments  in  the  industrial  world.  He  will  have  some- 
thing to  say  about  dynamite  and  of  the  part  it  played  in  en- 
forcing peace.  But  he  will  dwell  with  vastly  greater  emphasis 
on  certain  new  forces  and  new  adjustments  of  religious  things, 
such  as  the  Sunday-school,  the  missionary  propaganda,  the  tem- 
perance reform,  women's  work,  and  the  Endeavor  movement. 
Nor  is  the  last  the  least.  It  stands  for  the  transfusion  of 
youthful  blood ;  it  means  the  mobilization  of  the  Christian 
army;  it  marks  an  awakening  as  distinct  as  the  Crusades  and 
immensely  more  momentous." 

Rev.  David  J.  Burrell,  D.D.,  New  York  City. 

HE  exodus  of  the  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor 
from  its  original  home  was  unlike  that  of  the 
Israelites  in  that  it  was  no  forced  matter  com- 
pelled by  hard  taskmasters  who  would  hold  it 
back  from  any  Promised  Land.  There  was 
always  the  utmost  readiness  on  the  part  of  that  society  to 
share  with  others  the  good  things  which  God  gave  to  it,  but 
its  plans  and  methods  were  never  forced  upon  another  church 
or  upon  the  attention  of  the  world.  The  Society  went  out 
because   it   could   not  stay   at   home.     It   illuminated   othei 

52 


The  Exodus  of  the  Society.  53 

churches  than  Williston  and  other  towns  than  Portland  for 
the  same  reason  that  a  candle  gives  its  light.  It  could  not 
help  it. 

And  yet  for  eight  months  the  Christian  Endeavor  idea  in 
its  modern  form  was  confined  to  Williston  Church.  It  needed 
such  a  period  of  probation  and  testing  before  its  value  was 
sufficiently  assured  to  be  recommended  to  others.  But  by 
that  time  it  had  not  only  "felt  its  feet,"  to  use  a  nursery  phrase 
appropriate  to  such  an  infant  society,  but  was  ready  to  walk 
and  leap  beyond  the  borders  of  its  own  church  home. 

By  that  time  nearly  thirty  weekly  prayer-meetings  had 
been  held,  and  with  very  few  exceptions  they  had  all  been 
marked  by  spiritual  power,  and  had  proved  of  real 
Tpl'^g  and  lasting  benefit  to  all   the  members.     By  that 

Testin  time,  too,  the  monthly  roll-call  meeting,  which  at 

first  was  called  an  "experience-meeting,"  had 
proved  its  supreme  value  in  once  a  month  facing  the  young  dis- 
ciples with  the  question  of  their  progress  or  decline  in  the 
Christian  life.  The  very  calling  of  the  names,  as  of  those 
who  had  committed  themselves  to  the  service  of  the  Master 
and  to  upholding  the  honor  of  His  church,  had  a  remarkable 
restraining  and  elevating  influence,  and  it  had  come  to  be 
thought  of,  as  it  has  since  been  frequently  called,  "the  crown- 
ing meeting."  The  committees,  too,  several  new  ones  having 
been  added  since  that  February  night  which  has  already  been 
described,  were  working  effectively  and  without  friction;  and 
their  monthly  written  reports  showed  what  they  had  at  least 
endeavored  to  do  in  Christ's  name  and  for  His  church. 

The  experimental  days  were  by  no  means  over,  but  the 
new  plans  had  been  sufficiently  tried  to  permit  a  modest  recital 
of  them  in  The  Congregationalist  newspaper,  under  the  title, 
"How  One  Church  Looks  after  its  Young  People."  This 
article,  which  was  merely  a  brief  description  of  the  methods 
and  plans  of  the  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor,  now  so  well 


54  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

known,  brought  me  an  unexpected  correspondence.  I  expect- 
ed to  hear  no  more  from  this  than  from  any  other  newspaper 
article;  and,  as  every  writer  knows,  that  is  usually  very  little. 
But  this  article  seemed  to  be  on  a  subject  which  was  exercising 
the  minds  of  many. 

A  reprint  of  the  article  in  The  Sunday-School  Times  and 
other  papers  in  England  and  America  increased  the 
Appearance  Correspondence  concerning  this  new  organization, 
'".  though  it  was  some  years  before  any  fruit  appeared 

in  Great  Britain.  So  many  were  the  requests  for 
information  that  it  was  soon  found  necessary  to  print  with  a 
gelatine  pad  some  copies  of  the  constitution  which  the  Willis- 
ton  Society  had  adopted,  to  send  to  inquiring  friends. 

But  even  then  it  never  occurred  to  any  one,  certainly  not 
to  the  writer,  that  the  subject  would  prove  of  general  interest, 
or  that  it  would  ever  be  worth  while  to  spend  any  money  for 
printers'  ink  in  making  known  the  principles  of  the  Society. 
Those  early  days  of  small  expectations  stand  out  in  vivid  con- 
trast to  these  days  that  mark  the  close  of  the  first  quarter-cen- 
tury of  the  movement. 

Now  the  constitution,  which  was  then  printed  by  the 
laborious  and  imperfect  hectograph  process,  is  multiplied  by 
a  million  copies  every  year,  and  is  calculated  not  in  one  lan- 
guage only,  but  in  fifty.  The  principles  which  were  then 
regarded  as  entirely  experimental,  adapted  possibly  to  the 
church  where  they  originated  and  to  a  few  others  of  a  similar 
character,  are  now  confidently  recommended  not  only  to  Amer- 
icans and  to  the  churches  of  the  Pilgrim  order,  but  to  liturgical 
and  non-liturgical  churches,  to  English  and  French,  Spaniards 
and  Scandinavians,  to  the  Teutons  and  the  Slavs  alike,  to  the 
Orientals  as  well  as  Occidentals.  And  not  without  reason 
or  in  a  spirit  of  boastfulness  is  the  Society  thus  commended, 
but  because  during  these  twenty-five  years  it  has  proved  its 
adaptability  to  all  these  races  and  its  ability  to  do  for  young 


The  Exodus  of  the  Society. 


55 


people  everywhere,  if  it  is  given  a  fair  chance,  what  it  had 
already  done  for  the  young  people  of  Williston  Church. 

The  reason  for  this  universal  adaptability  must  lie  not  in 
any  wisdom  of  methods,  but  in  the  principles  that  underlie 
these  methods.  It  is  inconceivable  that  any  mere  form  or 
plan  of  church-work  that  was  not  based  on  fundamental  and 
universal  principles  could  have  thus  succeeded  so  quickly  in 
finding  its  way  into  every  land  and  language. 


CARD  OP  MEMBERSHIP. 


CU   T   ^  .(^  ^  ^  ^  f^    iX>( 


jpl^eo  CDQj^git  G^Qj  ^^fiiTest^ssiiU  nwS^  isir^f   cr^ssr  Q^FtuujQeuesirCBQLneBrtnt 

^aientr   Q/sirdQ    QBiSjfgj   Qen/iu)   ai''&^eieii(^Oeuek  erarj>u>,   ereir  ^aisrreo 

SHU)  aiira(SfdQan(BdBQpair.  ^(5  Qifliuir  ^eaiuQiuins  erdr  ai^eawaisirQiuM' 
e^tTLo    K^emaawujiTiLi  iSee>pQaippei)u>,  erek  sit^^q^ld  ^eigi—ai((hLDi'@LU  ^dius- 

fiirSfSlU)  uiii^QujDetjt})  eifTd^dQsir(Sd@<:peir.  wrr/faii^B  fifliSsr^£i>€aL.» 
^^L-i—fiPfl^  eiinru>^Qr)de  Oeieiri^jfiiTiiS(i^d(^u>QuirQgf!,  s>.(Swir(a)ei  jfuuLf. 
eijiTpQd(^ia  aimesur/ieofi^  a^iiafifiirQ^d^^  O^ifisEuQuek. 


S^uiSuih — , -..- _ esnaOiui^^^. - 


TAMIL. 

The   Cliristian   Endeavor  Covenant  in  Tamil. 

But  here  is  the  secret:  The  Society  in  every  part,  in 
pledge  and  prayer-meeting,  in  its  committees  and  all  its  activ- 
ities, is  based  on  these  principles.  The  young  Christian  has 
implanted  within  him  something  of  devotion  to  the  highest 
ideals  and  a  desire  to  attain  them.  The  very  words  "conver- 
sion" and  "Christian"  are  empty  and  meaningless 
Principles,  unlcss  this  is  true.  This  devotion  must  find  expres- 
sion in  word  and  deed.  "No  impression  without 
expression,"  is  the  latest  word  of  the  psychologist.     Reduced 


56 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


to  ordinary  phrase,  the  young  Christian  to  grow  in  grace  must 
practise  the  Christian  graces.  He  must  give  out  as  well  as 
receive.  He  must  exercise  as  well  as  eat.  He  must  not  be 
ashamed  of  his  religion,  or  unwilling  to  sacrifice  himself  for 
his  Master.  The  Christian  Endeavor  Society  simply  says:  "I 
will  show  these  young  Christians  how  they  may  work  and 
how  they  may  speak  for  Him  whom  they  have  begun  to  serve. 
I  will  provide  an  easy  and  natural  channel  for  the  expression 
by  word  and  deed  of  their  religious  life." 

Human  nature  is  the  same  the  world  around,  whatever  be 
the  color  of  the  skin,  the  environment,  or  the  heredity.  To 
be  a  Christian  means  the  same  thing  on  the  Congo  that  it 
means  in  Chicago;  in  Laos  as  in  London  the  service  of  Christ 


i 
i 


'm^ 


m  ^  r  <■  4  '^'  .y-v  ^^  iiH  V  X  ^ 

L  't  ^  6    /./  >  X   /^   f/S  'f  ^    -  ^^ 

^    I-  f  isi:  m  .-^  ^  '^'  ^  x^  -^  <■  M  in  ^  ^ 

^  ^  ^-  f  mm  J.  -  ^\-\  u^  ^  ^'  ^  ^  m 

^,  -  4^  ^  t-  •=  ^  ^  y^\^  »  ^  u  m  ^'  ^ 

m   -=  /  ^  '^  -^  m  m  jf  m  "$  "^  <•  M  ■=  m 


^ 


^-  *  ?  ^  ^  -l^  ^J  ^  #i  L 


-4^  qf  qp  ^ 

*  M  ^  fiH  ?  <•  ia  ^'  li?  ^  ^<  "^  J.  m  m 
^  i-^  mi^m  4  0  ^  ^/  i?  ^  -  -  51  # 


JAPANESE. 

The  Christian  Endeavor  Covenant  in  Japanese. 

calls  for  the  same  qualities  of  sincerity  and  devotion;  and  so 
an  organization  which  made  this  appeal  to  the  young  people 
finds  itself  as  much  at  home  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile  or  the 
Yang-tse-kiang  as  it  does  on  the  shores  of  the  Connecticut  or 
the  Thames. 

The  Moses  of  the  new  movement,  if  we  may  so  call  him, 


The  Exodus  of  the  Societyo  57 

who  first  led  it  out  into  a  new  field  of  activity,  was  Rev. 
Charles  Perry  Mills,  of  the  North  Church  in  Newburyport, 
Mass. 

Mr.  Mills,  who  some  years  ago  passed  on  to  his  abundant 
reward,  was  from  the  very  beginning  of  his  most  useful  career 
an  enthusiastic  advocate  of  the  organization.  After  many 
years  of  labor  among  his  own  young  people,  recalling  a  full 
decade  of  happy  service  in  his  Christian  Endeavor  society,  he 
characteristically  wrote : — 

"In  the  first  voyage  which  the  young  Christian  Endeavor 
child  undertook,  it  passed  successfully  from  port  to  port,  from 
Portland  to  Newburyport,  where  it  was  warmly  adopted  be- 
cause of  its  comely  beauty  and  promising  vigor.  That  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  was  of  spiritual  origin  and  destined  to  become 
a  providential  movement  may  be  gathered  from  the  similarity 
of  the  occasions  that  called  into  being  the  first  and  second  soci- 
eties. The  Newburyport  pastor,  the  first  winter  of  his  pas- 
torate, 1 88 1,  had  the  happiness  to  see  a  revival  that  resulted  in 
the  conversion  of  a  goodly  number  of  young  people,  a  revival 
that  was  simultaneous  with  the  one  that  occurred  in  the  Port- 
land church,  that  produced  similar  results,  and  that  led  to  the 
formation  of  the  first  society,  and  then,  when  the  plan  of  the 
first  was  known,  to  the  second.  The  spiritual  chords  were 
vibrating  in  unison,  all  unconsciously,  between  these  two  sea- 
port cities  seventy  miles  apart  on  the  Atlantic  coast.  .  .  . 
It  was  divinely  given  to  Dr.  Clark  to  originate  the  motion; 
the  Newburyport  pastor  has  always  felt  special  gratitude  that 
his  life  has  been  signalized  by  the  opportunity  given  him  to 
second  the  motion.  If  a  motion  is  made  and  not  seconded, 
that  is  one  sign  that  it  is  without  wisdom,  or  that  the  time  is  not 
ripe.  But,  when  the  motion  is  seconded,  it  is  then  open  for 
discussion  and  adoption.  The  Williston  plan  was  seconded 
because  it  was  motion,  an  advance  method  over  existing  organ- 
izations for  the  training  of  the  young." 


58  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

Mr.  Mills's  "second"  of  the  Williston  motion  was  quickly 
followed  by  others,  and  before  the  new  year  of  1882  dawned 
there  were  at  least  three  or  four  other  societies,  one  in  a  Chris- 
tian church  in  Rhode  Island,  another  in  the  St.  Lawrence/ 
Church  of  Portland,  still  another  in  Burlington,  Vt. ;  and  then 
the  list  began  to  increase  so  rapidly  that  the  exact  order  could 
no  longer  be  kept  recorded. 

Demands  upon  the  parent  society  and  its  pastor  for  infor- 
mation concerning  the  work  became  more  and  more  numer- 
ous. A  private  bureau  of  information  was  practically  estab- 
lished, whose  expense  was  largely  divided  between  Mr.  W.  H. 
Pennell,  the  first  signer  of  the  constitution,  and  the  pastor. 
The  constitution  was  printed,  and  one  or  two  leaflets  were 
prepared  to  save  busy  men  the  labor  of  an  overburdening  cor- 
respondence. But  even  then  there  was  no  thought  of  any 
large  or  permanent  movement  as  resulting  from  the  Williston 
experiment.  How  could  such  development  come  from  such 
a  tiny  mustard  seed?  How  could  the  branches  from  so  insig- 
nificant and  inconspicuous  a  tree  extend  into  all  the  world? 
The  idea,  if  it  had  occurred  to  any  one  in  those  days,  would 
have  seemed  quite  absurd.  There  were  hundreds  of  more  in- 
fluential churches  and  wiser  pastors  throughout  the  country, 
who  could  with  far  more  promise  of  success  start  such  a  move- 
ment. 

But  again  God  chose  the  "foolish  things  of  the  world  to 
confound  the  wise,  and  .  .  .  the  weak  things  of  the  world 
to  confound  the  things  which  are  mighty,  .  .  .  that  no 
flesh  should  glory  in  his  presence." 

One  event  which  hastened  the  exodus  of  the  Christian 
Endeavor  Society  was  doubtless  a  little  convention  or  "confer- 
ence," as  it  was  then  modestly  called,  which  was  held  in  Wil- 
liston Church  on  the  second  of  June,  1882.  This  conference 
was  certainly  "the  day  of  small  things"  from  the  modern  con- 
vention standpoint.     But  it  is  significant  that  before  the  first 


The  Exodus  of  the  Society.  59 

society  was  eighteen  months  old  it  should  call  together  its  few 
friends  and  neighbors,  saying,  "Rejoice  with  me."  This  gath- 
ering was  a  forecast,  small  and  insignificant  as  it  was,  of  one 
of  the  great  means  which  have  been  used  of  God  in  promot- 
ing the  exodus  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  idea.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  the  Society  has  introduced  a  new  era  of  con- 
ventions. It  has  popularized  to  an  amazing  extent  the  great 
religious  convocation,  and  that  little  gathering  in  Williston 
Church  on  that  early  June  day  was  the  John  the  Baptist  of 
the  mighty  gatherings,  thirty,  forty,  and  fifty  thousand  strong, 
that  have  assembled  in  Boston  and  New  York  and  San  Fran- 
cisco and  London,  and  which,  with  magnificent  numbers  and 
enthusiasm,  now  assemble  year  by  year  in  almost  every  Prot- 
estant country  in  the  world. 

Six  societies,  with  less  than  five  hundred  members,  were 
represented  at  this  first  conference;  but  it  was  known  that  a 
few  others  existed.  From  Bath,  thirty-five  miles  from  Port- 
land, one  society  sent  representatives,  all  the  other  delegates 
coming  from  the  city  of  Portland,  which  by  that  time  had  four 
flourishing  societies,  the  Williston  being  the  largest  and  report- 
ing 168  members.  It  was  thought  remarkable,  indeed,  that 
any  one  should  be  enough  interested  in  the  society  to  journey 
the  thirty  miles  or  so  necessary  to  bring  the  delegates  from 
Bath  to  Portland,  and  their  devotion  was  favorably  com- 
mented on.  But  these  few  journeying  delegates  were  typical 
of  a  great  host  which  was  soon  to  begin  to  make  its  annual 
pilgrimage  to  the  Christian  Endeavor  convention. 

A  few  years  later,  at  about  the  same  time  of  year,  nearly 
25,000  young  people  were  journeying,  not  thirty  miles,  within 
the  boundaries  of  a  single  State,  but  most  of  them  for  three 
thousand  miles  across  the  continent,  to  attend  a  similar  conven- 
tion in  San  Francisco.  Delegates  have  been  known  to  walk 
for  seven  days  over  the  hot  plains  and  hills  of  Mexico  for  two 
hundred  miles  or  more,  to  reach  their  convention.     Hundreds 


6o 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


crossed  the  ocean  from  America  to  England  when  the  World's 
Convention  was  held  in  the  world's  commercial  capital.  And 
I  have  myself  seen  my  Bengalese  fellow  Christian  Endeavor- 
ers  reach  their  convention  village  very  early  in  the  morning, 
after  an  all-night  tramp  to  reach  it,  which  they  must  repeat  on 
the  following  night,  after  the  convention  was  over,  in  order 


CARD  OF  MEMBERSHIP. 


•T*  g°  »  ;iM. 


rfS»   jSA>S^»  "^ab .  ed!6aSj£Jb4o  '^;&rnax>  "^ScSoS'&sSj^Stp 


«90S)S 


P&,. 


■"^<?Ty*'*®  ■ 


TJa.,, 


TELUGU. 

The  Christian  Endeavor  Covenant  in  Teluyu. 


to  reach  their  homes,  since  there  were  few  lodging-places  in 
the  village. 

The  story  of  some  of  these  conventions  will  be  found  in 
other  chapters,  and  I  allude  to  them  now  only  to  show,  by  way 
of  contrast,  vsdiat  that  first  little  convention  became,  for  it  had 
within  it  the  seed  which  developed  by  God's  swift  and  mighty 
evolution  into  the  unparalleled  religious  gatherings  of  these 
later  days. 

After  all,  the  same  spirit  prevailed  in  that  modest  little 
convention  of  1882,  the  same  themes  were  discussed,  the  same 


The  Exodus  of  the  Society.  6i 

fellowship  was  enjoyed,  which  have  made  memorable  these 
later  gatherings.  The  little  oak  is  very  small  as  it  peers  from 
the  acorn,  to  be  sure,  and  very  insignificant;  but  it  is  an  oak, 
nevertheless.  Its  first  leaf  is  an  oak  leaf.  Its  fibre  is  of  the 
texture  of  the  giant  parent,  under  whose  shadow  it  grows,  and 
the  same  kind  of  sap.  runs  through  its  veins.  So  it  was  with 
this  earliest  convention.  It  gave  promise  of  the  future.  The 
prayer-meeting  and  the  consecration-service,  the  lookout  com- 
mittee, and  the  ways  of  winning  others  by  the  social  gathering, 
and  the  larger  objects  of  the  Society,  its  spirit,  and  its  funda- 
mental purposes,  were  all  discussed. 

The  oldest  minister  of  Portland,  Dr.  Holbrook,  who  was 
then  well  beyond  the  Psalmist's  threescore  years  and  ten,  was 
chosen  chairman  of  the  conference,  thus  demonstrating  that, 
though  this  was  a  young  people's  society,  largely  composed  of 
young  people  and  led  by  them,  yet  there  was  no  age  limit 
which  should  prevent  a  young-hearted  if  gray-haired  pastor 
from  being  their  leader,  counsellor,  and  friend,  a  character- 
istic fact  which  succeeding  years  have  emphasized  a  thousand 
times. 

The  first  permanent  organization  of  societies  was  then 
efifected  with  Mr.  W.  H.  Pennell  for  president,  with  a  list  of 
vice-presidents,  a  secretary,  and  an  executive  committee,  whose 
chief  duty  was  to  provide  for  a  conference  to  be  held  the  fol- 
lowing year. 

I  will  not  burden  this  history  with  the  names  of  those  who 
were  prominent  at  this  time,  and  who  became  the  officers  and 
the  members  of  this  very  modest  and  informal  organization. 
Their  names  are  recorded  elsewhere, t  and  their  work  is  held 
in  grateful  and  imperishable  remembrance.  It  seems  pro- 
phetic that,  small  and  insignificant  as  this  conference  appears 
in  the  light  of  future  events,  yet  a  Portland  religious  paper  * 

t  Many    in    "  World-Wide   Endeavor." 
*  TJic  Christian  Mirror. 


62  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

published  at  the  time  should  contain  this  paragraph,  in  closing 
an  account  of  the  conference : 

"May  the  time  speedily  come  when  every  church  in  our 
land  shall  cherish  in  its  midst  one  of  these  societies  of  earnest 
Christian  Endeavor,  full  of  faithful  young  workers,  which  in 
turn  shall  add  beauty  and  strength  to  its  pillars,  and  prove  an 
honor  to  the  church  roll." 

When  we  remember  the  few  and  small  societies  which 
then  existed,  and  the  small  likelihood  that  their  number  would 
ever  be  very  materially  increased,  it  would  seem  that  this  was 
written  in  the  spirit  of  prophecy  rather  than  of  actual  expecta- 
tion based  on  human  foresight.  That  in  less  than  twenty-five 
years  this  prophecy  should  be  measurably  fulfilled  so  far  as 
the  Protestant  churches  of  America  are  concerned  could  have 
been  discerned  in  1882  only  by  the  eye  of  faith. 

Thus  the  Society  went  on  and  went  out  from  its  original 
home.  As  the  days  passed  by,  the  volume  of  the  Christian 
Endeavor  stream  rapidly  grew  larger  and  larger.  Rivulets 
began  to  pour  into  it  from  every  State  and  Province  in  Amer- 
ica, and  it  was  not  many  years  before  they  were  joined  by  trib- 
utaries from  other  countries  whose  story  we  must  reserve  for 
another  chapter. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  LINE  OF  MARCH. 

FIRST  OUTSIDE  OF  AMERICA  THE  SOCIETY  FOUND  ITS 
WAY  TO  HONOLULU,  THEN  TO  INDIA,  THEN  TO  CHINA. 
SOME  RECENT  EVENTS  ARE  CONTRASTED  WITH  THESE 
EARLY  BEGINNINGS. 

"  The  three  words  that  lie  at  the  foundation  of  our  com- 
mon Christian  conceptions  are  '  consecration,'  '  fellowship,' 
'  service.'  Christian  Endeavor  has  made  these  words  and  what 
they  signify  an  integral  part  of  the  thought  and  faith  of  the 
Christian  young  people  of  all  lands.  '  Consecration  '  has  be- 
come their  creed ;  '  fellowship,'  their  ritual ;  '  service,'  their 
practice.  Under  the  impulse  of  such  an  organization  the  de- 
vout young  people  of  all  nations  in  a  united  endeavor  for  a 
world's  redemption  are  exalting  before  the  unbelieving  and  the 
unevangelized  the  Christ  they  love  and  serve.  This  is  the 
crown  and  glory  of  the  movement." 

Rev.  James  L.  Barton,  D.D., 
Secretary  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 

Missions. 

|T  this  point  of  our  story,  since  we  have  been  de= 
scribing  the  exodus  of  the  Society  into  fields  im- 
mediately adjoining  its  original  home,  it  seems 
fitting  to  tell  something  about  its  line  of  march 
into  other  lands,  though  the  more  detailed  ac- 
count of  the  development  in  these  lands  will  be  given  in  other 
chapters. 

Undoubtedly  the  first  society  formed  outside  of  the  North 
American  continent  was  the  one  in  the  Fort  Street  Church  of 
Honolulu.     The  Hawaiian  Islands  were  then  an  independent 

63 


64  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

monarchy,  though  the  American  colony  was  large  and  influ- 
ential, as  it  always  has  been  since  the  days  of  the  early  mission- 
aries. Rev.  J.  A.  Cruzan,  who  was  then  the  pastor  of  the 
church,  writes  that  the  article  already  alluded  to,  "How  One 
Church  Looks  after  its  Young  People,"  "drifted  into  his  om- 
nivorous scrap-book." 

It  is  noticeable  that  the  conditions  existing  in  that  church 
in  Honolulu  were  the  very  same  as  those  in  which  the  first 
Endeavor  society  was  born  in  Portland. 

"Gracious  revivals,"  wrote  Mr.  Cruzan,  "in  1881-82  had 
brought  a  large  number  of  new-born  souls  into  the  Kingdom. 
Many  of  these  were  young  people,  some  of  them  young  men 
who  have  since  helped  to  make  history  in  Hawaii. 
Outsi'de"^^  For  the  spiritual  training  of  these  young  Christians 
America  there  was  organized  a  young  people's  meeting  of  the 
type  so  well  known  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  and 
of  which  in  most  cases  it  had  to  be  sadly  written,  'Ye  did  run 
well ;  who  did  hinder  you?'  Many  things  hindered  this  young 
people's  meeting  in  Honolulu,  and  the  summer  of  1883  proved 
a  welcome  opportunity  to  allow  it  to  die  decently." 

But  the  death  of  the  old  society  made  way  for  the  birth 
of  the  new,  and  the  following  November  (1883)  the  society 
was  organized  on  Christian  Endeavor  lines,  the  first  society  in 
Hawaii  and  the  first  outside  of  America. 

"The  iron-clad  pledge  was  pared  down  somewhat,"  says 
Mr.  Cruzan,  "and  the  usual  result  which  follows  the  removal 
of  the  spinal  column  ensued — collapse.  But  there  was  life  in 
the  society,  and  it  would  not  die.  It  was  soon  thoroughly  re- 
organized on  strict  Christian  Endeavor  lines.  The  Hon.  W. 
O.  Smith,  afterward  the  attorney-general  of  the  republic  of 
Hawaii,  was  chosen  president,  and  proved  an  admirable  lead- 
er. From  that  time  forth  this  society  has  been  an  efficient 
factor  in  the  life  of  the  church  with  which  it  is  connected,  of 
the  city  of  Honolulu,  and  of  the  little  nation." 


The  Line  of  March. 


65 


66  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

Thus  wrote  Mr.  Cruzan  something  more  than  ten  years 
ago,  and  with  added  emphasis  the  last  paragraph  might  be 
written  to-day.  It  is  interesting  to  supplement  his  story  with 
a  scene  that  came  under  my  own  observation  about  l;^  decade 
after  his  words  were  written.  The  steamer  on  which  I  was 
embarked  with  a  companion  for  Australia  steamed  into  the 
jbeautiful  harbor  of  Honolulu  early  one  morning  in  January, 
1904,  and  the  first  object  that  greeted  our  eyes  was  a  substan- 
tial steam-launch  coming  out  to  meet  the  steamer  with  a  com- 
pany of  Christian  Endeavorers  on  board.  They  wore  their 
yellow  ribbon  badges,  and  almost  before  the  little  launch  was 
made  fast  to  the  great  steamer's  side  climbed  up  on  deck  bring- 
ing the  warm  and  abundant  greetings  of  the  Honolulu  En- 
deavorers. Here  were  the  pastors  of  the  churches  of  the  sev- 
eral nationalities,  and  other  leading  workers,  both  young  men 
and  women.  But  they  were  only  the  prelude,  as  it  were,  to 
^  the  full  orchestral  welcome  that  awaited  us  a  few 

Memorable    momcnts  later  at  the  pier,  where  was  a  throng  of 

Scene  ,  t    ,  t  1 

in  Endeavorers  such  as  1  have  seldom  seen  gathered 

in  one  small  city,  American  Endeavorers  and  Ha- 
waiian Endeavorers,  Chinese  and  Japanese  Endeavorers, 
Portuguese  also  and  some  workers  among  the  Koreans,  who 
expected  soon  to  start  a  society  for  this  nationality.  Garlands 
of  leis  were  put  about  our  necks,  according  to  the  Hawaiian 
custom.  The  sweet  Hawaiian  song*  of  welcome  was  joined  in 
by  all  nationalities,  and  a  little  later  in  the  great  stone  church 
where  the  first  society  was  started  we  heard  each  company  of 
Endeavorers,  seated  according  to  nationalities,  and  in  their 
own  tongue,  consecrate  themselves  anew  to  the  Master's  serv- 

*"  Hawaii's  land  is   fair; 

Rich  are  the  gifts  we  share. 
This  is   our  earnest  prayer, 

O  Lord  of  light, 
That  as  a  noble  band 
We  maj'  join  heart  and  hand 
Till  all   Hawaii's  land 

Stands  for  the  right." 


The  Line  of  March. 


67 


ice.  In  the  Hawaiian  group  was  a  stalwart  company  of  sol- 
dierly young  men  in  their  gray  uniforms,  from  the  society  of 
the  Kamehameha  school.  In  the  Chinese  section,  both  Juniors 
and  seniors  were  represented,  as  well  as  in  the  Japanese,  and 
the  Portuguese  Endeavorers  were  none  the  less  enthusiastic  in 
their  own  way  than  the  other  nationalities  for  "Esforgo  Chris- 
tio." 

Thus  had  the  little  one  in  Hawaii  become  a  thousand. 
Since  that  visit,  though  so  recent,  the  growth  of  the  Hawaiian 
societies  has  been  still  more  remarkable  under  the  leadership 


The  Bridge  of  Ten  Thousand  Ages,  Foochow. 

of  Judge  Lyle  Dickey,  the  president  of  the  Hawaiian  Christian 
Endeavor  Union,  for  in  a  single  year  the  number  of  societies 
increased  by  more  than  1 16  per  cent. 

But  Christian  Endeavor  was  not  to  stop  in  its  pilgrimage 
when  only  half-way  across  the  Pacific.  Very  soon  after  we 
heard  of  its  establishment  in  Honolulu  news  came  that  it  had 
reached  the  coast  of  Asia,  and  was  becoming  acclimated  in 
Foochow,  China. 

Rev.  George  H.  Hubbard,  a  missionary  of  the  American 


68  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

Board  in  China,  was  the  pioneer  of  the  society  in  the  dis- 
tant Orient.     As  a  young  man  in  his  Connecticut 
in  home  he  had  become  practically  acquainted  with 

China.  ^j^^  working  of  the  Society,  and  with  a  young  man's 

zeal  to   attempt  hitherto  untried  experiments  he  concluded 
to  see  whether  it  was  adapted  to  the  Chinese  mind. 

The  response  was  emphatic  and  immediate.  The  society 
in  Foochow  was  a  success  from  the  first,  though  of  course  the 
beginning,  like  all  beginnings,  was  small  and  insignificant. 
But  the  Chinese  have  a  genius  for  organization;  their  guilds 
and  fraternities  have  made  the  society  idea  entirely  workable 
in  their  hands,  and  Christian  Endeavor  is  finding  an  ever-in- 
creasing opportunity  and  ever-enlarging  field  in  the  Celestial 
Empire. 

One  of  the  side-lights  upon  the  beginning  of  the  work  in 
Foochow  comes  to  us  from  an  address  of  Mr.  Ling,  a  gifted 
young  Chinese  pastor,  who,  with  no  less  wit  than  quaintness  of 
expression,  when  addressing  a  convention  in  Shanghai,  re- 
marked: 

"As  the  gospel  has  spread,  the  devil  has  had  to  retreat. 
Now  that  he  has  now^here  to  stay  in  Western  countries,  he  has 
come  to  China  to  live.  In  1884  we  started  our  first  Christian 
Endeavor  society,  the  object  of  which  is  to  drive  him  out  of 
China.  If  we  succeed,  he  cannot  go  back  to  the  West,  but 
must  be  driven  into  the  Eastern  sea,  where  he  will  meet  the 
fate  of  the  Gadarene  swine,  who  perished  in  the  waters." 

From  1884  to  1900  is  not  a  very  far  cry,  but  what  a  growth 
we  note  in  the  little  organization  w^hich  in  1884  according  to 
Mr.  Ling  started  to  drive  the  devil  out  of  China!  It  was 
my  good  fortune  to  attend  the  All-China  Convention  of  that 
year,  which  assembled  in  the  native  city  of  the  movement. 
Before  the  convention  actually  began,  with  some  of  the  mis- 
sionaries and  Chinese  Christians  who  were  particularly  inter- 
ested in  the  work,  with  Mr.  Hubbard  as  leader,  we  all  assem- 


The  Line  of  March.  69 

bled  in  the  moonlight  on  the  spot  where  sixteen  years  before 
the  first  little  society  had  been  formed.    The  house 

Wonderful      .  ,   .    ,      .  ,    .  111  1 

Growth  in  which  It  Started  its  career  had  been  torn  down, 
China.  ^^^  ^'^'^  could  not,  therefore,  meet  in  the  rooms  of 

its  birth;  but  the  next  best  thing  was  to  stand  in  the 
open  air  under  the  stars,  and  sing  "Praise  God  from  whom 
all  blessings  flow." 

The  next  day  the  first  session  of  the  convention  was  held 
in  the  largest  church  of  Foochow.  More  than  a  thousand 
blue-gowned  Celestials  were  gathered  there;  and,  as  the  writer 
was  introduced,  they  all  rose  and,  putting  their  hands  high 
above  their  heads,  shook  them  at  him  in  their  own  unique  and 
expressive  way  of  giving  welcome. 

Before  this,  Mr.  Hubbard,  who  is  specially  skilful  in  de- 
vising pleasant  reminders  of  the  past,  had  provided  me  with  a 
little  Chinese  drum,  and  a  rude  gavel  made  from  a  beam  of 
the  house  in  which  the  first  society  of  Christian  Endeavor  in 
China  was  started.  This  gavel  and  drum  were  to  be  used  in 
calling  the  convention  to  order,  and  were  reminiscent  of  the 
earliest  days,  when  the  Society,  for  lack  of  a  better  name,  and 
because  of  the  difficulty  of  translating  "Christian  Endeavor" 
into  Chinese,  was  called  in  that  tongue,  "THE  Drum-Around- 
AND-Rouse-Up  Society."  The  name  perhaps  was  as  rude  as 
the  gavel;  but  it  was  significant,  too,  and  exactly  expressive 
of  one  chief  purpose  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society,  vigor- 
ously to  seek  out  and  arouse  to  action  the  young  Christians  of 
the  world. 

This  convention,  too,  was  notable  in  other  ways,  for  it 
showed  in  a  remarkable  way  how,  on  mission  ground  espe- 
cially, denominational  differences  can  be  sunk,  and  the  widest 
Christian  fellowship  prevail  in  a  common  organization.  The 
society  started  in  China  in  a  mission  of  the  American  Congre- 
gationalists,  but  it  soon  spread  into  the  Methodist  and  Church 
of  England  missions,  which  occupy  the  same  great  field  of  the 


70 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


Fukien  province,  though,  unhappily,  as  it  seemed  to  many,  the 
Methodist  societies  had  been  changed  at  the  request  of  home 
authorities  into  Epworth  Leagues,  and  were  not  so  directly 
concerned  with  the  convention  as  the  others.  Yet  this  first 
meeting  was  held  in  a  Methodist  church,  the  largest  in  the 
city,  and  the  missionaries  of  the  Church  of  England  were  quite 
as  pronounced  as  the  American  missionaries  in  their  interest 
and  advocacy  of  the  Society,  which  has  spread  lo  all  their  sta- 
tions throughout  the  province.    From  Foochow  the  Society  has 


A  Ragged  Sunday-School,  in  Foochow,  China. 


spread  into  the  remotest  parts  of  China,  as  will  be  told  in  a 
later  chapter.  Some  of  the  delegates  to  this  convention  had 
come  many  days'  journey  by  the  slow  and  primitive  Chinese 
land  conveyances,  or  in  the  dreadful  steerage  of  a 
Chinese  steamer,  knowing  perfectly  well  that  when 
they  reached  the  convention  they  could  understand 
little  or  nothing  that  was  said;  for  most  of  the  addresses  must 


Heroic 
Delegates 


The  Line  of  March. 


71 


necessarily  be  in  the  Foochow  dialect,  which  was  not  familiar 
to  those  from  a  distance. 

"Why  did  you  come?"  I  said  to  one  young  man,  who  had 
travelled  five  hundred  miles,  and  who  spoke  and  understood  a 
different  dialect.  "Why  did  you  come  if  you  knew  you  could 
not  understand  what  was  said?" 

"O,"  he  replied,  with  kindling  eyes  and  a  glowing  smile, 
"I  would  not  have  missed  the  convention  for  anything.  I 
never  realized  before  that  there  were  so  many  Christian  people 
in  all  the  world.  To  be  sure,  I  could  not  understand  much  of 
what  was  said;  but  I  knew  the  tunes  that  were  sung,  and  I 
could  feel  the  spirit  and  atmosphere  of  the  convention;  and 
these  have  been  the  most  blessed  days  of  all  my  life." 

One  of  the  eminent  missionaries  at  this  convention.  Dr.  J. 
E.  Walker,  actually  translated  some  of  the  addresses  from 
Foochowese  into  Mandarin,  so  that  the 
distant  Chinese  delegates  might  under- 
stand them.  A  remarkable  example 
of  the  unifying  power  of  Christianity, 
which  thus  made  even  the  Chinese 
of  different  provinces  acquainted  with 
one  another,  and  united  them  in  a  com- 
mon bond  of  fellowship  and  a  common 
organization.  Thus  again  had  the 
little  one  of  1884  become  the  thousand 
and  the  ten  thousand  of  iqoo. 

Of  one  more  country  I  must  speak 
in  this  chapter.  For  at  about  the  same 
time  when  the  Society  found  its  way 
to  Hawaii  and  China  it  also  made  its 
appearance  in  India,  or  rather  in  Ceylon,  the  spicy  island  to 
the  south  of  the  great  triangular  peninsula.  How  interesting 
and  almost  unbelievable  were  those  reports  that  came  of  the 
establishment  of  the  first  societies  in  different  lands!    "Can  it 


Miss    A.    Bli^^s, 
Founder     of    the    first     so- 
ciety in   South   Africa,   at 
Wellington   in    1887. 


72  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

be,"  the  Endeavorers  said  to  themselves,  "that  God  has  a  use 
for  our  little  society  in  countries  so  strange  and  remote?    Can 
it  be  that  our  pledge  and  consecration-meeting  can  help  the 
dusky  children  of  distant  Asia?" 
o    .    .  We  hardly  dared  to  believe  the  good  news  at 

lieginnings  -^  o 

•n  _  first;  but,  as  letters  began  to  arrive  with  detailed  ac- 

counts of  these  beginnings  of  Christian  Endeavor, 
we  came  to  believe  that  possibly  the  Society  had  a  wider  mis- 
sion than  we  had  dared  to  dream.  Among  these  letters,  so 
surprising  in  their  information,  was  one  from  Miss  Margaret 
Leitch  of  Ceylon,  telling  of  the  formation  of  a  society  among 
the  Tamil-speaking  children  of  Jaffna.  This  could  be  called 
in  these  days  a  Junior  society,  and  the  generosity  of  these  early 
Juniors  has  often  stimulated  to  self-denial  the  Juniors  at  home, 
as  they  have  been  told  how  the  boys  belonging  to  this  first  Cey- 
lon society  were  accustomed  to  dedicate  a  cocoanut-tree  to  the 
Lord's  service,  and  to  write  upon  the  bark  the  letters  which  in 
Tamil  stood  for  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.  All  the  cocoanuts  which  grew 
upon  this  tree,  we  were  told,  were  given  for  missionary  work 
in  other  lands,  while  the  girls  who  were  too  poor  to  afford  a 
tree  dedicated  a  hen  to  the  same  purpose,  and  all  her  eggs  and 
chickens  were  sacred  to  missionary  work. 

The  Society  seems  to  have  sprung  up  almost  spontaneously 
in  several  other  parts  of  India;  first  of  all,  in  the  Arcot  mission 
of  the  Reformed  Church,  whose  missionaries  have  always 
been  particularly  active  in  advancing  the  cause.  So  small 
were  many  of  these  beginnings,  however,  that  they  have  left 
but  few  records  behind  them.  But  all  the  greater  is  the  con- 
trast with  the  splendid  growth  and  vigorous  aggressiveness  of 
the  Indian  Endeavorers  of  the  present  day.  Processions  a 
thousand  strong  and  more  march  through  the  streets  of  the 
convention  cities,  with  streaming  banners,  and  beating  drums, 
and  loud,  triumphant  trumpets,  according  to  the  Indian 
custom. 


The  Line  of  March.  73 

"Who  are  these?"  say  the  non-Christians  one  to  another, 
as  they  come  rushing  to  doors  and  street  corners  as  the  pro- 
,  cession  moves  past. 

"These  are  the  Christian  Endeavorers,"  proudly  respond 
the  members  of  the  Society.  "They  are  meeting  here  in  a 
great  convention,  over  a  thousand  strong.  Their  object  is 
to  make  India  a  Christian  land.  They  have  millions  of 
brothers  and  sisters  in  America  and  Europe  and  Australia 
and  all  the  world  over.  Come  to  the  meetings,  and  hear  what 
they  have  to  say,  and  listen  to  their  singing,  and  learn  the 
Jesus  way." 

Often  this  invitation  is  accepted,  and  these  great  gather- 
ings of  enthusiastic  Endeavorers  in  India,  as  in  America, 
leave  a  permanent  impression  behind  them  of  the  enthusiasm, 
vigor,  and  aggressive  earnestness  of  the  young  Christian  of 
the  twentieth  century.  Thus  again  has  the  little  one  of 
1883-84  in  India  become  the  thousand  of  to-day.  May  the 
thousand  of  to-day  become  the  million  of  to-morrow! 


CHAPTER  VI. 
THE  HAND  OF  PROVIDENCE. 

THROUGH  VERY  HUMBLE  INSTRUMENTS  GOD  ESTAB- 
LISHED THE  SOCIETY  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN,  AUSTRALASIA, 
THE  ISLANDS  OF  THE  SEA,  AND  ON  THE  CONTINENT 
OF  EUROPE,  AS  THIS  CHAPTER  NARRATES. 

"  It  is  not  possible  to  perpetuate  for  twenty-five  years  a  re- 
ligious movement  requiring  the  co-operation  of  multitudes,  and 
to  extend  it  around  the  globe,  unless  at  its  heart  is  something 
more  than  the  will  and  purpose  of  men,  even  the  directing  wis- 
dom and  impulse  of  the  Divine  Spirit." 

Rev.  Charles  Cuthbert  Hall,  D.D., 
President  of  Union   Theological  Seminary. 

'T  is  always  a  joy  in  this  chronicle  to  record,  as  we 
have  frequent  occasion  for  doing,  the  special 
hand  of  Providence  in  guiding  the  beginnings 
and  the  progress  of  the  Christian  Endeavor 
movement;  for,  while  it  makes  the  human  agen- 
cies that  have  been  concerned  in  it  the  less  important,  this 
record  shows  the  divine  favor,  and  gives  promise  of  perma- 
nent results,  for  He  who  hath  planted  and  hitherto  cared  for 
the  seed  will  scarcely  allow  it  to  droop  and  wither. 

Even  the  most  careless  student  of  this  historv,  and  the 
most  sceptical  of  those  who  study  the  ways  of  God  with  man, 
can  hardly  have  failed  to  see  already  the  good  hand  of  Provi- 
dence in  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement.  It  is  almost  in- 
conceivable that  a  society  starting  under  these  obscure 
auspices,  with  no  influential  backing  or  ecclesiastical  patron- 
age, should  have  found  its  way  so  rapidly  into  so  many  lands 
and  so  many  denominations  unless  directly  guided  by  a  higher 

7-'- 


The   Hand  of  Providence. 


75 


Leading  British  Endeavorers. 


Rev.  John  Pollock, 
President    of  the  British  C.  E.   Union. 
Rev.  Bishop  Evelyn  R.  Hasse, 
Ex-President  of   the   British   C.   E.    Union. 


Rev.  J.  D.  Lamont, 
Ex.-President  of  the  British  C.  E.  Union. 

Rev.   W.  Knight  Chaplin, 
Hon.  Secretary  of  the  British  C.  E.  Union. 


76  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

power  than  we  could  see  at  work  with  our  eyes  merely  upon 
the  human  chess-board. 

Horace  Bushnell  has  a  powerful  sermon  on  the  subject, 
"Every  Man's  Life  a  Plan  of  God."  This  title  is  true  of  hu- 
man organizations  as  well  as  of  human  lives,  and  the  further 
story  of  the  introduction  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  move- 
ment into  Great  Britain,  Australia,  and  other  lands,  where  it 
soon  made  its  way,  shows  in  a  remarkable  manner  the  divine 
care  for  small  beginnings.  "The  romance  of  the  insignifi- 
cant" is  characteristic  of  the  beginnings  of  Christian  En- 
deavor in  all  lands. 

One  of  the  members  of  the  first  society  in  Port- 
Beginnings     1        1  1      r  -^  11 

in  land  before  it  was  many  years  old  was  a  young  me- 

Brfta^in.  cliauic,  who  had  recently  come  from  Crewe  in 
England  to  try  his  fortune  in  the  New  World. 
Being  a  member  of  the  High  Street  Church  of  his  native 
English  city,  he  soon  found  congenial  friends  among  the 
young  people  of  Williston  Church,  and  entered  into  their  life 
and  religious  activities.  He  was  by  no  means  a  remarkable 
young  fellow,  merely  a  bright  young  mechanic;  but  he  could 
write  a  letter.  Few  can  do  less  than  that.  He  soon  wrote 
to  his  former  pastor  in  Crewe,  the  Rev.  A.  W.  Potts,  about 
the  new  religious  organization  which  he  had  found  in  Port- 
land, which  was  called  the  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor. 
He  suggested  that  perhaps  such  a  society  might  be  equally 
good  transplanted  to  English  soil.  The  letter  bore  fruit,  and 
after  a  few  months  from  its  receipt  by  the  pastor  a  similar 
society  was  organized  in  the  High  Street  Church  of  Crewe. 
From  this  little  seed  the  plant  grew,  not  as  rapidly,  to 
be  sure,  as  in  America;  for  there  were  certain  prejudices  and 
traditions  to  overcome  in  the  mother  country,  which  were  not 
so  strong  in  the  younger  nation.  But  still  it  grew,  and  in 
1891,  nine  years  after  the  first  American  convention  was  held, 
the  first  English  convention  gathered  in  this  same  High  Street 


The   Hand  of  Providence.  "]"] 

Church  of  Crewe.  The  pastor  to  whom  years  before  this 
young  mechanic  wrote  his  simple  letter  gave  an  abundant 
welcome  to  the  two  American   delegates*  who  attended   it. 

"Welcome,  thrice  welcome,"  said  Mr.  Potts,  in  his  open- 
ing address,  "for  you  have  come  to  undertake  this  great  En- 
deavor task.  Welcome  to  all  the  toil  and  conflict  of  this 
great  movement;  welcome  to  all  the  joy  and  the  inspiration  of 
it  also,  and  in  the  end  may  it  please  God  to  welcome  us  all 
into  heaven's  higher  fellowships,  and  to  grant  to  us  the  final 
rewards  of  our  labor  and  victory." 

The  To  this  higher  reward  Mr.  Potts  was  very  soon 

Convention  Summoned.  He  lived  but  a  short  time  after  this; 
Great  ^^^  ''^^^  lifc-work  had  been  done  and  well  done,  and 

Britain.  he  will  always  be  remembered  as  the  earliest  friend 
and  pioneer  of  the  Society  in  Great  Britain. 

In  this  address  of  welcome  he  speaks,  to  be  sure,  of  "this 
great  movement;"  but  it  was  by  no  means  great  at  this  time  in 
Great  Britain.  A  few  struggling,  half-distrusted  societies 
existed  in  different  parts  of  the  United  Kingdom,  but  there 
was  no  concerted  Christian  Endeavor  movement,  which  then, 
and  for  some  time  afterward,  sheltered  itself  under  the 
kind  wing  of  the  Sunday-school  Union.  This  Union  first 
in  1888  invited  the  writer,  and  afterwards  in  1891  invited 
some  American  friendsf  with  him  to  present  the  claims  of 
the  new  movement  to  the  British  public. 

So  much  for  the  small  beginnings.  But  what  a  contrast 
do  we  see  now!  A  young  man  some  twenty  years  ago  wrote 
a  letter  to  his  pastor  in  England.  A  little  society  resulted,  in 
a  comparatively  uninfluential  church.  Barely  a  dozen  years 
roll  around,  and  we  see  the  religious  circles  of  London  itself 
moved  by  a  mighty  religious  gathering  of  youth.     From  all 

*The  Rev.  Charles  A.  Dickinson,  D.D.,  and  the  Rev.  Francis  E.   Clark,  D.D. 
fThe  Rev.  James  L.  Hill,  D.D.,  the  Rev.   Neheniiah  Boynton,  D.D.,  the  Rev. 
C.   A.   Dickinson,  D.D. 


78  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

parts  of  the  United  Kingdom  they  pour  into  the  capital.  Eng- 
land and  Ireland  and  Scotland  and  Wales  all  send  great 
delegations.  From  America  nearly  two  thousand  Christian 
Endeavorers  reach  the  shores  of  Great  Britain  in  spite  of  a 
deplorable  accident  which  burned  their  steamers  and  disar- 
ranged their  plans,  just  on  the  eve  of  embarkation.  From 
Australia  and  New  Zealand  come  very  considerable  contin- 
gents, and  many  countries  of  continental  Europe  are  rep- 
resented. 

The  Alexandra   Palace   is   filled  with   a   vast 
^  throng  of  earnest  young  Christians;  twenty  thou- 

Wonderful  ,      .      .  •  ,      ,      •  ,  ,  \  , 

Contrast  saud,  it  IS  Said,  being  gathered  under  the  crystal 
1900.  (jome  at  the  same  time,  while  great  tents  outside  are 
pitched  to  accommodate  the  overflowing  throng.  The  great- 
est pulpit  orators  of  two  continents  assemble  on  the  platform, 
representing  all  the  great  denominations  of  Protestantism. 
For  this  is  the  World's  Christian  Endeavor  Convention  of 
1900. 

At  the  same  time  Exeter  Hall  and  the  City  Temple,  the 
Metropolitan  Tabernacle  and  the  Westminster  Chapel,  are 
laid  under  contribution  to  accommodate  the  convention;  and 
on  the  Sunday  in  hundreds  of  churches  of  the  metropolis  are 
preached  eloquent  sermons  by  representative  Endeavorers, 
concerning  the  principles  and  methods  of  the  movement,  for 
there  are  more  than  six  hundred*  Christian  Endeavor  so- 
cieties in  London  alone,  and  throughout  Great  Britain  they 
are  numbered  by  the  thousands,  and  their  adherents  by  the 
'hundred  thousands.  Who  will  say  that  in  such  growth  the 
hand  of  God  cannot  be  seen? 

About  the  time  when  the  young  man  from  Crewe  wrote 
the  letter  above  mentioned,  another  young  man  sailed  in  his 
father's  ship   from  Newburyport.     His  father  was  the  cap- 

*  The    date    of   this    convention    was    July,    1900.     This    number    is    now    very 
considerably  increased. 


The    Hand  of  Providence. 


79 


Prominent  British  Endkavorers. 

Mr.   W.    H.    Hope,  Rev.  James  Mursell, 

Liverpool.  Adelaide,  So.  Australia,  formerly  of  Edinburgh. 

Rev.   Carey  Bonner, 

London. 

Mr.   Charles  E.  Waters,  Rev.  J.   Brown  Morgan, 

London.  Bradford. 


8o  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

tain,  and  the  young  man,  with  health  somewhat  impaired, 
took  passage  with  him,  hoping  for  restoration  of  health.  But 
God  had  other  designs  in  that  voyage  than  simply  the  renewal 
of  the  health  of  one  faithful  young  Christian,  though  that, 
too,  was  accomplished. 

Far-ofif  Australia  was  the  destined  port  of  this 
{Jg^  Newburyport  ship,   and  the  young  Christian   En- 

Society         deavor  passenger,  it  is  interesting  to  know,  was  a 

Was  JT  o        ;  o  7 

Carried  member  of  that  second  society  of  which  we  have 
Australia,  already  told  in  the  "Exodus"  chapter.  This  young 
traveller  has  never  made  any  pretensions  to  special 
eloquence  or  wisdom.  But  like  a  thousand  other  young  En- 
deavorers  he  was  faithful  to  his  covenant  pledge  and  his  re- 
ligious training,  whether  in  New  England  or  at  the  antipodes. 
After  the  ship  dropped  anchor  in  the  beautiful  harbor  of  Bris- 
bane the  young  American  went  ashore  of  course,  and  equally 
of  course  he  went  to  church, — for  was  not  that  in  his  pledge? 
— and  entered  somewhat  into  the  religious  life  of  the  town, 
though  his  stay  was  but  short. 

It  was  long  enough,  however,  for  him  to  tell  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Whale,  the  pastor  of  the  Baptist  Tabernacle,  and  Mr. 
G.  H.  Buzacott,  another  prominent  Christian  worker  of  Bris- 
bane, of  the  new  society  which  was  making  headway  in 
America,  and  whose  principles  and  practices  he  knew  so  well 
because  of  his  personal  work  in  the  old  North  Church  of 
Newburyport. 

There  is  nothing  like  personal  knowledge  and  personal 
advocacy.  "We  cannot  but  speak  the  things  which  we  have 
seen  and  heard,"  said  Peter  and  John  on  one  of  the  great 
occasions  of  their  lives.  So  this  young  man  simply  told  the 
things  that  he  had  seen  and  heard  among  the  young  people  in 
his  own  home  church,  and  the  first  society  in  Australia  was 
the  result. 

About  the  same  time  when  this  society  was  formed  in 


The   Hand  of  Providence.  8i 

Queensland  another  was  formed  in  Prahran,  a  suburb  of  Mel- 
bourne, in  Victoria. 

From  independent  information,  but  in  an  equally  in- 
conspicuous and  unheralded  way,  this  other  society  was 
started;  but  from  this  little  seed  what  fruit-laden  orchards 
have  grown!  By  way  of  contrast  let  us  visit  together  the 
Junior  rally  of  the  Victoria  convention  of  1904,  held  very 
near  the  birthplace  of  the  first,  or  possibly  the  second,  little 
society  in  all  Australia. 

A  great  throng  of  people  is  making  its  way  to  the  great 
Exhibition  Building,  the  largest  audience-room  in  all  the 
great  city  of  Melbourne.  Here,  not  many  months  before,  in 
the  presence  of  a  Duke  and  Duchess  of  York,  the  Australian 
Commonwealth  had  been  proclaimed,  and  the  six  colonies 
had  become  the  six  states  of  the  great  United  States  of 
Australia. 

But  on  this  occasion  of  which  I  speak,  the  huge  hall 
was  thronged  not  with  politicians  or  curiosity-seekers,  but 
with  the  five  thousand  children  of  the  Junior  societies  of 
Christian  Endeavor  of  Melbourne,  with  as  many  more  of 
their  fathers  and  mothers  and  teachers  and  older  friends,  who 
had  come  to  see  them  build  the  "Christian  Endeavor 
Bridge."*  The  stones  of  the  bridge  are  marked  "Faith"  and 
"Hope"  and  "Love"  and  "Temperance"  and  "Fidelity"  and 
other  graces.  One  side  of  the  bridge  represents  the  Sunday- 
school  and  the  home,  while  the  other  side  represents  the 
church  of  the  living  God.  With  laborious  care  the  children 
put  together  the  blocks,  and  locked  them  all  with  the  key- 
stone "Jesus  Christ."  Lamps  were  lighted  on  the 
ACstraiian  parapet,  which  spelled  out  "JUNIOR."  Three 
Scene.  large  flags  were  unfurled,  one  from  each  parapet. 

the  Union  Jack,  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  and  the  Australian 

*This  is  a  favorite   Junior   exercise  in  Great  Britain   and   Australia,  and   was 
first  prepared  by  Mr.  W.  H.  Hope,  of  Liverpool. 
6 


82  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

flag,  which  received  the  most  applause  of  all  from  the  young 
patriots. 

They  were  banked  up  around  the  great  organ,  one  of  the 
largest  in  the  world,  in  vast  tiers,  banks  on  banks  of  sweet, 
smiling,  prettily  dressed  children,  the  loveliest  of  flower- 
gardens.  They  overflowed  into  the  galleries  near  by,  and  into 
the  floor  of  the  audience-room  below,  while  thousands  of  de- 
lighted parents  filled  the  back  spaces.  Then,  when  the  exer- 
cise was  over,  the  children  began  to  troop  over  the  bridge 
by  scores  and  hundreds,  passing,  as  they  were  directed,  from 
the  home  side  and  the  Sunday-school  side  to  the  church  side 
of  the  bridge,  thus  symbolizing,  as  was  intended,  the  great 
idea  of  Junior  Endeavor  as  the  causeway  between  the  home 
and  Sunday-school  and  the  church,  the  bridge  over  which 
a  multitude  of  children  in  Australia  and  other  countries  are 
metaphorically  passing  every  year,  to  take  their  place,  as  we 
may  hope  and  believe,  as  "pillars  in  the  temple  of  our  God." 

As  we  look  on  that  first  scene  of  small  and  insignificant 
beginnings  and  on  this  great  throng  of  interested  and  en- 
thusiastic Christians,  after  a  very  few  years  gathered  in  the 
Island  Continent,  a  scene  which  I  have  witnessed  in  all  its 
essential  particulars  half  a  score  of  times  in  the  great  cities 
of  Australia,  we  must  again  say:  "This  work  is  not  of  man, 
but  of  God.     His  guiding  hand  is  in  it  all." 

Some  few  years  after  the  first  society  was  started  in  Port- 
land a  poor  old  sailor  lay  sick  in  a  hospital  in  Port  Antonio, 
in  Jamaica.  This  was  nothing  unusual,  nor  was  it  out  of  the 
ordinary  for  this  stranded  sailor  to  have  given  to  him  some 
illustrated  papers  and  magazines,  which  had  been 
The  story  ggni-  fgr  the  purposc  by  a  good  lady  in  Boston. 
stranded  Among  the  other  papers  was  one  called  The 
Golden  Rule,*  the  chief  exponent  and  advocate  of 
the  Christian  Endeavor  cause.     The  old  sailor  very  likely 

*  Now   The  Christian   Endeavor   World. 


The    Hand  of  Providence.  83 

knew  nothing  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society,  and  cared 
as  little  for  it;  but  he  was  interested  in  the  pictures  with 
which  the  paper  abounded,  and  afterward  carelessly  laid  it 
one  side. 

But  God  had  a  use  for  that  stray  newspaper.     A  good 
Christian  philanthropist  of  Port  Antonio,  when  visiting  the 


Jamaican  Christian  Endeavor. 

hospital  and  the  sick  sailor's  cot,  took  up  the  paper,  and  read 
for  the  first  time  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society,  which 
was  then  but  little  known,  even  in  the  land  of  its  birth.  But 
the  good  seed  was  sown  in  the  heart  of  the  visitor,  and  soon 
after  the  first  Christian  Endeavor  society  made  its  appear- 
ance in  the  Methodist  Church  at  Port  Antonio.  Again  the 
good  seed  sprang  up  and  bore  fruit,  and  soon  began  to  "shake 


84  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

like  Lebanon"  throughout  the  beautiful  island  of  Jamaica. 

Not  many  years  after,  it  was  my  good  fortune  to  visit 
this  lovely  tropic  isle,  and  everywhere  from  end  to  end  I 
found  that  Christian  Endeavor  societies  had  been  planted. 
One  meeting  especially  in  the  ancient  capital,  in  Spanish 
Town,  impressed  my  imagination.  The  church  was  thronged 
with  a  great  company  of  black  Endeavorers,  for  there  are  of 
course  but  few  others  in  the  island,  where  white  people,  are. 
numerically  speaking,  but  an  insignificant  fraction  of  the  pop- 
ulation. In  that  balmy  climate  the  windows  and  doors  were 
all  wide  open,  and  dusky  faces  peered  in  at  all  of  them,  for 
there  was  no  room  in  the  large  church  for  the  throngs  who 
would  attend.  On  the  platform  were  the  colored  ministers, 
and  besides  the  two  American  visitors  only  one  other  white 
person,  the  very  efficient  and  beloved  secretary  of  the  Jamaica 
Union. 

The  address  of  welcome  was  given  by  one  of  the  blackest 
of  the  black  brethren,  and  was  characteristic  of  his  eloquent 
race,  hearty,  enthusiastic,  and  genuine. 

"We  are  very  glad,"  he  said  in  his  expansive  peroration, 
"to  welcome  our  American  cousins,  as  ^ve  English  say." 

This  representative  of  the  British  nation  had  never  been 
in  England,  nor  had  any  of  his  ancestors,  nor  was  it  likely 
that  he  ever  would  go;  but  it  seemed  to  me  not  only  a  beauti- 
ful tribute  to  the  patriotic  feeling  of  the  people  that  they 
thought  of  themselves  as  "we  English,"  but  it  was  also  a 
tribute  to  the  cause  of  Christ  and  to  this  youngest  organiza- 
tion of  the  Christian  family  that  it  brought  together  white 
English  and  black  English,  Americans  and  Afri- 
Cousiniy  caus,  and  made  them  feel  their  kinship  in  the  com- 
ecom  .  j^Qj^  cause  of  Christ;  for  it  was  something  more 
hearty  than  a  "cousinly"  welcome  that  the  Americans  received 
throughout  the  island. 

Thus  again  the  story  of  the  mustard-seed  was  repeated 


The    Hand  of  Providence. 


85 


oboi/^oo 


"rs 


{^^GJS 


LAOS 


Christelike  Strevers  Vereniging 
DUTCH 


Esforyo  Christao 
PORTUGUESE 


Kristelig  Virksomhed 
DANISH 


86  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

in  the  history  of  Christian  Endeavor  in  Jamaica.  Again  is 
the  hand  of  God  plainly  seen  as  we  look  at  the  chance  paper 
sent  to  the  sick  sailor,  and  the  vigorous  and  influential  work 
of  Jamaican  Christian  Endeavorers  as  it  is  now  being  car- 
ried on  in  almost  every  town  and  hamlet  of  the  island,  a  work 
that  has  spread  to  the  other  West  Indies,  and  bids  fair  to  bring 
the  same  blessing  to  them. 

In  every  other  country  Christian  Endeavor  had  an 
equally  inconspicuous  beginning,  though  not  always  so  rapid 
a  growth.  In  Germany,  now  one  of  the  Continental  strong- 
holds of  the  Society,  it  was  introduced  by  a  young  theological 
student  named  Blecher,  who  read  in  1893  an  article  on  the 
Society  by  a  German  American,  Pastor  Berner,  of  Bufifalo, 
N.  Y.  "I  spoke  of  it,"  says  Pastor  Blecher,  who  from  the 
very  beginning  has  been  the  faithful  and  indefatigable  secre- 
tary of  the  German  Christian  Endeavor  Union,  "to  several 
pastors  and  friends;  but  they  paid  little  attention,  and  showed 
still  less  sympathy  with  it.  'Quite  good,  but  American,'  was 
the  usual  answer." 

Ill  health  sent  the  president  of  the  United  Society  to 
Switzerland  in  1894,  ^^^  on  his  recovery,  in  November  of 
that  year,  a  meeting  was  held  in  Berlin  in  the  interests  of 
the  Society,  Herr  Graf  Bernstorfif  being  the  interpreter.  No 
one  who  was  present  at  that  meeting,  who  knew  the  obstacles 
to  be  encountered  and  the  difficulties  to  be  overcome,  would 
have  dared  to  predict  that  in  1905  a  great  European  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  convention  would  be  held  in  the  same  city  of 
Berlin,  attended  by  delegates  from  most  European 
in  countries,  and  holding  among  many  other  meetings 

ermany.  ^  great  praisc  service  attended  by  six  thousand  peo- 
ple, at  which  service  German  royalty  itself  was  represented, 
as  well  as  a  great  multitude  of  the  royal  servants  of  the  King 
of  kings. 

I  have  already  spoken  of  a  visit  to  England  in  1888  at 


The    Hand   of  Providence.  87 

the  invitation  of  the  Sunday-school  Union.  After  the  meet- 
ings in  England  were  over  I  crossed  the  Channel  to  spend  a 
few  hours  in  Paris.  Seeking  out  one  of  the  McAU  Mission 
stations,  I  found  there  the  Rev.  C.  E.  Greig,  who  was  holding 
at  that  very  moment  a  meeting  for  the  boys  and  girls  of  that 
quarter  of  the  city.  When  he  knew  of  the  mission  that  had 
brought  me  to  Europe,  he  exclaimed  at  once:  "This  is  in- 
deed most  providential.  I  have  long  been  seeking  and  pray- 
ing to  know  what  more  I  could  do  for  the  boys  and  girls. 
This  very  day  the  thought  has  been  strangely  impressed  upon 
me  that  something  new  should  be  attempted.  The  Christian 
Endeavor  Society  is  the  very  thing.  We  shall  try  it  at  once 
wherever  we  can  in  our  mission." 

He  was  as  good  as  his  word,  and  from  that  moment  the 
Society  began  its  career  in  France,  and  has  never  ceased  to 
be  grateful  for  the  kindly  interest  and  guiding  hand  of  the 
head  of  the  McAU  Mission. 

So  I  might  go  on,  telling  in  detail  the  story  of  the  small 
beginnings  in  every  land.  It  is  the  same  story,  varied  by  in- 
teresting details  in  all  the  countries  where  Christian  En- 
deavor has  found  a  foothold.  No  king  or  bishop  or  pope  has 
decreed  its  existence;  no  great  church  has  fostered  its  growth; 
but  in  every  country  the  seed  has  been  planted  by  some  hum- 
ble, earnest  worker.  In  every  country  it  has  been  watered  by 
the  dews  of  Providence,  and  has  grown  under  the  sunshine 
of  God's  grace.     And  in  every  land  its  motto  might  well  be, 

"Not  unto  us,  O  Lord,  not  unto  us,  but  unto  thy  name 
give  glory,  for  thy  mercy  and  for  thy  truth's  sake." 


88 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


A  (jospel  Boat  in   FoochoWj 
With  Leading  Endeavorcrs  on  Board. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
UNDERLYING  PRINCIPLES. 

WHEREIN  ARE  SET  FORTH  THE  FUNDAMENTAL  IDEAS 
OF  CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR  AS  THEY  ARE  VIEWED  BY  AN 
AMERICAN  AND  A  BRITISH  LEADER. 

"In  our  age  we  want  whole-hearted  Christians;  we  must 
therefore  welcome  everything  which  helps  to  lead  youth  to  a 
living,  active  Christianity.  Now  it  seems  to  us  that  these  so- 
cieties help  to  win  young  men  and  women  to  take  a  decided 
standing  for  the  cause  of  the  Lord.  This  will  not  only  be  a 
great  blessing  to  the  young  people  themselves,  and  afford  them 
a  hold,  but  also  be  of  incalculable  value  to  the  churches  in  gain- 
ing for  them  members  who  know  in  whom  they  believe,  and 
who  take  an  active  part  in  church-work." 

Count  Bernstorff,   Berlin. 

HRISTIAN   Endeavor  is   now  found   in   almost 
every  land,  among  people  of  many  colors  and 
climes  and  languages;  in  some  lands  just  spring- 
ing up   as  a  little  tender  plant,   and  in  others 
grown  into  a  strong  tree  deeply  rooted  in   the 
ground.     In  every  land  the  Society  has  sprung  up  to  meet  a 
need  that  was  felt,  and  everywhere  it  has  adapted  itself  to  the 
varying  needs  and  circumstances. 

Though  conditions  are  very  different  in  all  these  lands, 
though  languages  and  customs  and  manners  differ  greatly, 
yet  hearts  are  the  same  all  the  world  over,  and  the  needs  of 
those  who  are  young  in  the  Christian  life  are  much  the  same, 
whatever  their  circumstances.  Many  of  the  methods  used  in 
these  Christian  Endeavor  societies  may  differ,  but  the  funda- 

89 


90  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

mental  principles  are  the  same  in  all  lands.  The  trees  may 
grow  to  different  heights,  may  put  forth  different  colored 
blossoms,  and  perhaps  require  different  care,  but  the  roots  are 
the  same.  In  every  land  the  essentials  have  been  preserved, 
while  the  non-essentials  have  been  varies!  to  suit  the  varied 
conditions. 

In  stating  the  fundamental  principles  which  are  neces- 
sary to  a  true  Christian  Endeavor  society  perhaps  I  cannot 
do  better  than  to  quote  here  a  part  of  an  address  at  the 
World's  Christian  Endeavor  Convention  in  London,  in  July, 
1900,  after  a  third  Christian  Endeavor  journey  around  the 
world. 

CHRISTIAN     ENDEAVOR  — WHAT     IT     STANDS 
FOR  THE  WORLD  AROUND. 

SOME  twelve  years  ago  the  word  of  the  Lord  seemed  to 
come  to  a  quiet  minister  in  eastern  America,  telling  him  to 
take  his  pilgrim-staff  and  scallop,  and  travel  from  one  end  of 
the  world  to  the  other  in  the  interest  of  a  new-born  move- 
ment called  Christian  Endeavor. 

He  felt  that  he  could  not  be  disobedient  to  the  heavenly 
vision,  as  he  thought  it  to  be;  and  since  then,  by  sea  and  land, 
by  rail  and  river,  he  has  been  journeying,  going  thrice  around 
"this  goodly  frame,  the  earth,"  and  travelling  not  less  than  a 
quarter  of  a  million  of  miles. 

During  the  last  twelve  years  it  has  been  his  privilege  to 
visit  every  State,  Province,  and  Territory  in  North  America, 
almost  every  country  in  Europe  and  Asia,  every  colony  but 
one  in  Australia,  the  Ottoman  Empire,  Egypt,  South  Africa, 
Mexico,  and  some  of  the  islands  of  the  East  and  West  Indies. 

He  would  be  a  dull  scholar  indeed,  had  he  not  learned 
some  things  from  the  book  of  experience  concerning  the  es- 
sential and  non-essential  features  of  Christian  Endeavor. 
Pardon  him,  then,  if  at  this  World's  Convention,  having 


Underlying  Principles. 


911 


92  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

completed  within  the  past  week  a  third  Christian  Endeavor 
journey  around  the  world,  he  draws  upon  this  experience, 
claiming  naught  for  his  opinions  but  the  virtue  that  they  are 
not  mere  opinions,  not  theories,  but  deductions,  attested  by 
the  hallmark  of  practical  experience  in  many  lands. 

One  test  of  a  truth  is  that  it  is  universal.  Faith  is  faith 
in  India  and  Kamchatka.  Hope  is  hope  in  the  New  World 
and  the  Old.  Charity  is  the  greatest  of  the  Christian  graces 
at  the  equator  and  the  pole.  So  it  is  in  all  lesser  matters  that 
have  in  them  the  elements  of  universal  truth.  Here  is  the 
test  of  the  value  of  an  idea,  of  a  movement,  of  an  organization. 
Is  it  a  temporary  expedient  that  meets  some  local,  temporary 
need,  or  is  it  a  satisfaction  for  a  universal  need?  Is  it  a  post 
to  which  something  may  be  tied  for  a  little  while,  or  is  it  a  tree, 
with  deep-running  roots  and  wide-arching  branches,  which 
grows  with  the  year,  and  whose  seed  takes  root  in  any  fertile 
soil?     Thus  can  movements  be  tested. 

Let  us  apply  this  proof  to  the  principles  of  the  Christian 
Endeavor  Society,  and  see  if  it  meets  the  test.  In  this  cruci- 
ble let  us  also  try  the  dififerent  features  of  Christian  Endeavor, 
and  find  which  are  universal,  that  we  may  know  which  are 
essential. 

In  any  such  movement  there  must  necessarily  be  many 
things  that  are  local  and  temporary.  Committees  that  are 
necessary  in  one  society  are  entirely  unnecessary  in  another. 
Place  and  hour  of  service,  methods  of  roll-call,  ways  of  con- 
ducting the  meetings,  frequency  and  character  of  business 
gatherings,  all  aflord  room  for  an  infinite  variety  of  details, 
preventing  any  dull  uniformity  of  method,  and  affording  op- 
portunity for  the  utmost  ingenuity  and  resourcefulness.  In 
these  details  societies  in  dififerent  parts  of  the  world  will 
surely  dififer  one  from  another,  and  they  ought  to  do  so. 
These  matters  are  not  the  essential,  universal  principles  of  the 
movement.     It  would  be  the  height  of  absurdity  to  say  that 


Underlying  Principles.  93 

because  a  society  in  London  has  its  meeting  at  seven  o'clock 
Monday  evening  a  society  in  Labrador  should  observe  the 
same  day  and  hour;  that  because  a  society  in  Sydney  has  nine- 
teen committees  a  society  in  Shanghai  must  have  just  a  score 
less  one. 

A  thousand  matters  are  left  free  and  flexible  in  Christian 
Endeavor.  Personal  initiative,  invention,  resource,  the  con- 
stant leading  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  are  possible. 

The  Christian  Endeavor  constitution  is  no  hard  chrysalis 
which  forever  keeps  the  butterfly  within  from  trying  its 
wings. 

There  is  room  even  for  experiments  and  failures,  since 
we  will  always  remember  that  the  worst  failure  is  to  make 
no  endeavor. 

Yet,  while  this  is  true,  it  is  equally  true  that  a  universal 
movement  must  have  universal  principles  that  do  not  change 
with  the  seasons,  do  not  melt  at  the  tropics,  or  congeal  at 
the  poles.  A  tree  puts  forth  new  leaves  every  year,  but  it 
does  not  change  its  roots.  It  simply  lengthens  and  strengthens 
them. 

The  roots  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  tree,  wherever  it 
grows,  are  Confession  of  Christ,  Service  for  Christ,  Fellow- 
ship with  Christ's  people,  and  Loyalty  to  Christ's  Church. 

The  farther  I  travel,  the  more  I  see  of  societies  in  every 
land,   the  more   I   am  convinced   that  these   four  principles 
are    the   essential    and   the    only   essential    principles   of    the 
Christian  Endeavor  Society.     Let  me  repeat  them: — 
I.  Confession  of  Christ. 
IL  Service  for  Christ. 

in.  Fellowship  with  Christ's  people. 
IV.  Loyalty  to  Christ's  Church. 

With  these  roots  the  Christian  Endeavor  tree  will  bear 
fruit  in  any  soil.  Cut  av/ay  any  of  these  roots  in  any  clime, 
and  the  tree  dies. 


94 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


I.  Confession  of  Christ  is  absolutely  necessary  in  the 
Christian  Endeavor  Society.  To  ensure  this  are  the  methods 
of  the  Society  adapted  in  every  particular.  Every  week 
comes  the  prayer-meeting,  in  which  every  member  who  ful- 
fils his  vow  must  take  some  part,  unless  he  can  excuse  him- 
self to  his  Master.  This  participation  is  simply  the  confession 
of  Christ.  The  true  Christian  Endeavorer  does  not  take  part 
to  exhibit  his  rhetoric,  or  to  gain  practice  in  public  speaking, 
or  to  show  what  a  logical  prayer  he  can  ofifer  to  God;  but  he 
does  take  part  to  show  that  he  is  a  Christian,  to  confess  his 
love  for  his  Lord;  and  this  confession  is  as  acceptable  made 
by  the  unlearned,  stumbling,  lisping  Christian  as  by  the  glib 
and  ready  phrase-maker,  if  the  few  and  halting  words  of  the 
former  have  the  true  ring  of  sincerity  about  them. 

The  covenant  pledge  is  simply  a  tried  and  proved  de- 
vice to  secure  frequent  confession  of  Christ.  It  is  essential 
to  Christian  Endeavor,  but  essential  only  because  it  secures, 
as  nothing  else  has  been  known  to  do,  the  frequent  and  regular 
confession  of  Christ  by  the  young  Christian. 

It  also  secures  familiarity  with  the  Word  of  God  by  pro- 
moting Bible-reading  and  study  in  preparation  for  every 
meeting. 

The  consecration-meeting,  with  its  roll-call,  is  another 
indispensable  instrument  that  makes  confession  doubly  sure 
and  doubly  sacred. 

The  calling  of  the  names  at  the  monthly  roll-call  de- 
clares the  faithful  confessor  of  Christ,  and  also  reveals  the 
careless  non-confessor  and  pledge-breaker  as  no  other  device 
can  do,  and  confronts  each  one  month  by  month,  with  the 
solemn  question, 

"Am   I  on  the   Lord's  side? 
Do  I  serve  the  King?" 

This  principle  of  confession   in  Christian  Endeavor,   I 


Underlying  Principles.  95 

have  found  all  the  world  around,  is  not  dependent  on  de- 
grees of  latitude  and  longitude.  The  societies  in  Foochow, 
China,  have  flourished  and  multiplied  because  from  the  be- 
ginning they  have  observed  this  essential  feature  of  Christian 
Endeavor.  The  rude  little  groups  of  Christians  on  the 
Ningpo,  just  out  of  rank,  crass  heathenism,  have  caught  hold 
of  this  great  principle  in  their  societies,  and,  though  they  have 
little  else,  they  are  worthy  the  fellowship  of  any  metropolitan 
society  in  London.  In  a  post  and  telegraph  station  in  North 
Japan,  in  the  beals  of  East  Bengal,  on  the  ships  of  the  United 
States  Navy,  in  the  prisons  of  Kentucky  and  Indiana,  among 
the  rude  Islanders  of  the  South  Seas,  our  covenant  is  kept, 
and  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society  flourishes  because  the 
covenant  ensures  constant  confession  of  Christ,  and  constant 
confession  ensures  a  good  society  of  Christian  Endeavor;  for 
it  is  one  of  the  main  trunk  roots  through  which  it  draws 
nourishment  and  life. 

In  this  virtue  of  free,  outspoken  confession  of  our  faith 
we  Anglo-Saxon  Protestants  are  singularly  lacking.  I  know 
of  no  race  that  is  so  shamefaced  about  its  faith,  so  unwilling 
to  declare  its  allegiance.  The  Turk  stands  five  times  a  day 
and  prays  with  his  face  toward  Mecca,  caring  not  who  sees 
him.  On  the  housetop,  by  the  wayside,  in  the  courtyard  of 
the  inn,  when  the  hour  of  prayer  comes,  he  unfailingly  de- 
clares, "Great  is  God,  and  Mahomet  is  His  prophet."  I 
have  heard  the  Buddhist  mutter  half  the  day  long,  "I  believe 
in  Buddha;  I  believe  in  Buddha." 

I  have  seen  the  Russian  soldier  in  far  Siberia  face  the 
rising  sun,  and,  with  half  a  thousand  comrades  looking  on, 
cross  himself  and  pray  as  though  he  were  alone  with  God. 

I  have  seen  at  least  more  outward  devotion  in  a  Catholic 
cathedral  than  in  any  Protestant  chapel  I  ever  entered. 

I  have  seen  a  thousand  Catholic  priests  reading  their 
Bibles  and  prayer-books  in  public  cars,  but  I  have  seen  very 


96  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

few  Protestant  ministers  open  their  Testaments  when  any  one 
was  looking.  One  cause  of  the  mighty  strength  of  these  cor- 
rupt faiths  is  that  their  adherents  are  not  ashamed  of  them. 
One  reason  for  the  weakness  of  our  purer  and  more  rational 
belief  is  that  we  who  profess  it  are  so  loath  to  confess  it. 
Christian  Endeavor  has  come  to  the  kingdom  to  remedy  in 
part  this  defect  and  to  make  professors  confessors. 

Our  form  of  confession  is  the  prayer-meeting.  Here  we 
acknowledge  our  faith.  Here  we  declare  our  allegiance. 
And  in  our  confession  and  declaration  we  renew  our  love, 
and  strengthen  our  zeal,  and  brace  ourselves  against  temp- 
tation, and  equip  our  hearts  for  further  conquests. 

Let  no  one  make  light  of  the  prayer-meeting,  or  decry 
our  covenant  pledge,  which  makes  and  keeps  our  prayer- 
meeting  the  power  that  it  is.  Whoever  does  this  decries  not 
a  fad,  a  notion,  a  temporary  expedient,  but  a  universal  prin- 
ciple of  Christian  Endeavor,  and,  I  believe,  an  important 
principle  of  the  highest  Christian  attainment. 

n.  Another  universal  principle  of  Christian  Endeavor 
is  constant  service.  If  confession  is  the  lungs  of  the  move- 
ment, service  is  its  hands  and  feet.  In  no  part  of  the  world 
have  I  ever  found  a  good  society  whose  members  were  not  at 
work.  Never  have  I  found  a  true  society  that  ignored  its 
committees ;  for  our  committees  make  service  possible  and 
easy,  systematic  and  efficient.  The  society  was  not  made  for 
its  committees,  but  the  committees  are  made  for  the  society, 
to  make  it  a  working  organization.  The  most  multifarious 
kinds  of  service  have  our  societies  undertaken;  but  all  so- 
cieties, the  world  round,  that  are  worthy  of  the  name  are  at 
work  in  some  way. 

What  are  they  doing?  Ask  the  pastors  and  the  Sunday- 
school  superintendents  in  America  and  Great  Britain  and 
Australia.  Ask  the  missionaries  in  the  Punjab  and  among 
the  Telugus,  among  the  simple  people  of  the  Laos  country, 


Underlying  Principles.  97 

?mong  the  Armenians  and  the  Zulus,  the  Karens  and  the 
Arabs,  and  they  will  all  tell  you  the  same  story,  "In  the  ideal 
society  every  member  is  responsible  for  some  definite,  par- 
ticular task." 

This  chorus  of  response  is  so  universal  and  emphatic 
that  it  must  have  a  significance  that  cannot  be  ignored.  This 
feature  of  our  society  is  not  a  matter  of  indifference. 

It  is  not  a  late  accretion.  It  is  not  a  question  of  climate 
or  race.  From  the  first  day  of  the  first  society,  during  all 
these  nearly  twenty  years,  this  feature  has  characterized  our 
movement,  and,  into  whatever  land  it  has  spread,  it  has  been 
known  by  this  feature  of  systematic,  organized,  and  individual 
service. 

Here,  too,  I  believe,  we  can  see  the  hand  of  God  in  build- 
ing the  society  on  this  corner-stone.  For  various  reasons  our 
churches  have  come  to  contain  many  silent  partners,  many 
names  of  those  who  do  not  serve.  Social  considerations,  de- 
cline of  early  zeal,  physical  incapacity,  have  filled  our  church- 
rolls,  and  have  not  multiplied  our  church-workers.  I  am 
not  finding  fault  or  indulging  in  a  cheap  fling  at  the  laziness 
of  Christians.  I  am  stating  a  fact.  Some  counteracting 
forces  were  needed.  Here  is  one  of  them, — a  society  whose 
ideal,  like  Wesley's,  is,  "At  it,  and  all  at  it,  and  always  at  it"; 
a  society  that  finds  a  task  for  the  least  as  well  as  the  greatest, 
for  the  youngest  and  most  diffident,  as  well  as  for  the  few 
natural-born  leaders. 

A  few  weeks  ago  I  visited  a  strange  old  Buddhist 
monastery  which  for  three  thousand  years  has  been  hidden 
away  in  a  valley  among  the  hills  of  Korea. 

Here  live  and  pray  four  hundred  monks  whiD,  with  their 
long  line  of  predecessors,  during  these  three  millenniums, 
have  maintained  a  corporate  existence.^  They  are  recruited 
from  the  lowest  ranks  of  the  people.  They  are  despised  and 
hated  by  most  of  the  Koreans,  and  yet  they  have  prospered  and 
7 


98  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

grown  rich  and  powerful,  while  the  country  has  grown  poor 
and  weak. 

What  is  the  secret  of  their  success  and  long  life  in  the 
land?  Listen.  To  every  neophyte  some  task  is  given.  Each 
has  his  own  office  and  service.  Among  the  younger  ones,  at 
least,  there  are  no  drones.  For  three  thousand  years  these 
monastic  bees  have  been  making  honey,  and  the  hive  still 
stands  because  it  is  filled  with  workers.  A  lesson  may  be 
learned  by  every  Christian  Endeavor  society  in  the  world 
from  this  remote  monastery  among  the  beautiful  hills  of 
Korea. 

IIL  Again,  I  have  learned  that  our  fellowship  is  an  es- 
sential feature  of  Christian  Endeavor.  This,  too,  is  not  a 
matter  of  zones  or  climates  or  latitudes  or  languages.  Our 
fellowship  is  a  universal,  God-given,  fundamental  feature  of 
Christian  Endeavor.  This  World's  Convention  demonstrates 
it.  The  movement,  to-day  more  emphatically  world-wide 
than  ever  before,  emphasizes  it. 

In  every  land  I  have  felt  the  heart-throbs  of  my  fellow 
Endeavorers.  Our  Christian  fellowship  is  expressed  in  dif- 
ferent ways,  but  it  is  always  the  same  fellowship. 

In  Japan  I  have  prostrated  myself  on  hands  and  knees 
with  my  fellow  Endeavorers  and  touched  my  forehead  to  the 
floor  as  they  touched  theirs. 

In  China,  over  and  over  again,  a  thousand  Endeavorers 
have  stood  up  as  I  addressed  them,  and  have  shaken  their 
own  hands  at  me  while  I  have  shaken  mine  at  them. 

In  India  they  have  hung  scores  of  garlands  about  my 
neck  until  I  have  blushed  for  my  own  unworthiness  of  such 
a  flowery  welcome. 

In  Bohemia  they  have  embraced  me  and  kissed  me  on 
either  cheek. 

In  Mexico  they  have  hugged  me  in  a  bear's  embrace, 
and  patted  me  lovingly  on  the  back. 


Underlying  Principles.  99 

Always  I  have  felt  that  these  greetings  were  far  more 
than  personal  matters.  They  represent  the  fellowship  of  the 
cause.  Always,  whatever  the  form,  the  loving  greeting  of 
loving  hearts  is  the  same. 

In  the  Fukien  province  of  China,  when  we  approached 
a  Christian  village, — where,  by  the  way,  there  is  very  likely 
to  be  a  Christian  Endeavor  society, — we  were  sure  to  hear 
in  the  soft  accent  of  the  almond-eyed  peoples  the  greeting, 
"Ping  'ang,  ping  'ang,  ping  'ang"  ("Peace,  peace,  peace"). 
Perhaps  a  hundred  people,  old  and  young,  would  utter  this 
benediction,  as  we  walked  through  a  single  village. 

So  it  seems  to  me,  as  I  have  gone  around  the  world  again 
and  again,  I  have  heard  the  gentle  word  of  fellowship  from  a 
million  Endeavorers,  "Peace,  peace,  peace." 

This  fellowship  is  not  an  accident  or  a  matter  of  chance. 
It  is  an  inevitable  result  of  the  movement.  When  the  second 
society  was  formed,  nineteen  years  ago,  the  fellowship  began. 
Then  it  became  interdenominational,  interstate,  international, 
intersocial,  intercontinental,  and,  as  some  one  has  suggested, 
since 

"Part  of  the  hosts  have  crossed  the  flood. 
And  part  are  crossing  now," 

it  has  become  intermundane.     ^yu-^C'trir's,-^^-    '^" 

IV.  Once  more,  a  universal  essential  of  the  Society  of 
Christian  Endeavor  is  fidelity  to  its  own  church  and  the  work 
of  that  church.  It  does  not  and  cannot  exist  for  itself.  When 
it  does,  it  ceases  to  be  a  society  of  Christian  Endeavor.  It 
may  unworthily  bear  the  name.  It  may  be  reckoned  in  the 
lists,  just  as  an  unworthy  man  may  find  his  name  on  the  church 
roll.  But  a  true  society  of  Christian  Endeavor  must  live  for 
Christ  and  the  church.  Its  confession  of  love  is  for  Christ 
the  head,  its  service  is  for  the  church.  His  bride;  its  fellow- 
ship   is   possible   only   because    its    loyalty   is    unquestioned. 


loo  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

This  characteristic,  too,  I  have  found  as  universal  as  the  So- 
ciety. I  have  found  no  real  exceptions.  In  city  or  country, 
in  Christian  land  or  mission  field  in  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  or 
America,  it  is  everywhere  the  same. 

Because  this  is  our  ideal  and  our  principle  and  our  earnest 
endeavor,  let  me  urge  older  Christians,  however,  not  to  hold 
Christian  Endeavorers  responsible,  as  some  are  inclined  to  do, 
for  every  weakness  among  young  Christians,  which  the  Society 
is  doing  its  best  to  remedy,  but  cannot  wholly  overcome.  Be- 
cause many  young  people  do  not  often  go  to  church  the  So- 
ciety is  often  blamed.  Because  some  forget  their  vows  the 
splendid  fidelity  of  the  rank  and  file  is  forgotten.  Because 
the  church  pews  are  not  filled,  or  the  Sunday-school  enlarged, 
or  the  longed-for  revival  comes  not,  the  Society  is  made  the 
scapegoat  by  some  unthinking  Christians  for  these  defects, 
for  the  very  reason  that  its  ideals  on  these  matters  are  ex- 
alted. 

Bear  with  me  if  I  rehearse  once  more  the  fundamental, 
necessary  features  of  this  world-wide  movement,  at  this 
World's  Convention — 

Confession,  Service,  Fellowship,  Fidelity. 

Confession  of  our  love  for  Christ. 

Proof  of  it  by  our  service  for  Him. 

Fellowship  with  those  who  love  Him. 

Fidelity  to  our  regiment  in  which  we  fight  for  Him. 

Notice  that  each  of  these  principles  is  natural  and  basal. 
No  one  of  them  is  a  matter  of  mechanism.  No  one  is  a  mat- 
ter of  expediency.  Each  is  a  sine  qua  non.  In  every  con- 
tinent you  will  find  these  features  of  Christian  Endeavor  are 
necessary.  I  think  you  will  find,  also,  that  no  other  roots  are 
vital  to  the  tree. 

These  principles  make  necessary  the  pledge  and  conse- 
cration-meetings; they  justify  the  systematic  work  of  the  com- 
mittees; they  explain  our  unexampled  conventions;  they  re- 


Underlying  Principles.  loi 

veal  the  reasons  of  the  rapid  growth  of  Christian  Endeavor 
in  all  the  world.  To  secure  constant  confession  the  binding 
force  of  the  covenant  pledge  is  needed,  and  the  monthly  roll- 
call  cannot  be  dispensed  with;  to  ensure  constant  service  the 
regularly  apportioned  work  of  the  committees  is  essential;  to 
give  voice  to  our  fellowship  our  conventions  and  various 
meetings  are  inevitable.  Our  loyal  fidelity  regulates  and 
guards  the  whole  organization. 

But  these  principles  are  not  for  the  world-wide  move- 
ment alone.  Your  society,  my  fellow  Endeavorer,  needs  them 
all.  The  same  principle  of  gravitation  applies  to  the  thistle- 
down fluttering  to  the  earth  and  the  planet  whirling  through 
space.  Your  local  society  cannot  grow  strong  and  healthy 
and  fulfil  its  God-given  mission  unless  it  stands  four-square 
for  confession  and  service,  fellowship  and  loyalty.  Come 
nearer  home  and  take  the  truth  to  your  own  heart.  You  can- 
not be  a  worthy  Endeavorer  unless  you  confess  Christ,  work 
for  Christ,  love  Christ's  people,  and  uphold  Christ's  church. 

We  have  been  around  the  world,  but  we  have  come  back 
to  our  own  soul's  threshold.  To  your  own  experience  I  con- 
fidently appeal  when  I  assert  once  more  what  the  experience 
of  twenty  years  in  all  lands  has  proved,  that  the  fundamental, 
universal,  enduring  features  of  Christian  Endeavor  are  con- 
fession, service,  fellowship,  fidelity. 

In  closing  this  chapter  let  me  also  quote  a  few  words 
from  the  Rev.  F.  B.  Meyer,  whose  writings  have  helped  so 
many  Christian  Endeavorers  in  so  many  lands  to  lift  their 
ideals  higher  and  to  lead  a  stronger  and  nobler  Christian  life. 
Mr.  Meyer  was  at  this  time  president  of  the  British  Christian 
Endeavor  Union,  and  the  passage  quoted  from  his  address  at 
this  same  World's  Convention  in  London  sets  forth  the  funda- 
mental ideas  of  Christian  Endeavor  as  seen  by  a  British  leader 
in  Christian  Endeavor  and  in  all  kinds  of  Christian  work — 

"Christian    Endeavor   stands    for   five   great   principles: 


I02  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

(i)  Personal  devotion  to  the  divine  Lord  and  Saviour,  Jesus 
Christ,  so  that  we  do  not  simply  rely  on  His  work  of  propitia- 
tion, finished  on  the  cross,  but  view  Him  as  our  living  King, 
whose  will  is  law  in  every  department  of  life.  (2)  The  cove- 
nant obligation  embodied  in  our  pledge,  without  which  there 
can  be  no  true  society  of  Christian  Endeavor.  COVE- 
NANT, mark  you,  as  the  president  of  Scottish  Endeavor  in- 
sists, which  implicates  the  help  of  the  Spirit  of  God  as  the 
only  source  and  inspiration  of  our  endeavor.  (3)  Constant 
religious  training  for  all  kinds  of  service  involved  in  the 
various  committees,  which  are,  equally  with  the  prayer-meet- 
ing and  the  covenant,  essential  parts  of  every  society  of 
Christian  Endeavor.  (4)  Strenuous  loyalty  to  the  local 
church  and  denomination  with  which  each  society  is  con- 
nected. (5)  Interdenominational  spiritual  fellowship, 
through  which  we  hope  not  for  organic  unity,  but  to  realize 
our  Lord's  prayer  for  spiritual  unity,  that  all  who  believe 
in  Him  may  be  one.  In  these  five  points  the  heart  and  the 
soul  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  are  concentrated. 

"Christian  Endeavor  is  a  protest  against  the  life  which  is 
built  in  water-tight  compartments,  and  demands  that  Christ 
shall  be  supreme  —  over  the  cricket  field  and  lawn-tennis 
court,  over  the  store  and  workshop,  over  the  weight  in  the 
scale  and  the  sentence  from  the  bench,  over  the  drawing  of  a 
check  and  the  writing  of  a  book." 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
HELPS  AND  HELPERS. 

THE  EARLY  CONVENTIONS,  THE  EARLY  LEADERS,  AND 
THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  STATE  AND  LOCAL  UNIONS 
ARE  DESCRIBED  HEREIN. 

"  The  founders  of  this  society  labored  in  discouragement 
and  obloquy  often,  but  they  labored  with  a  sublime  optim.ism 
and  an  invincible  faith  in  God  that  never  faltered.  They  had 
no  precedents  to  guide  them,  and,  vuhile  they  may  have  made 
mistakes,  I  agree  with  the  judgment  of  the  late  Dr.  C.  F. 
Deems,  of  precious  memory:  '  No  management  in  America  is, 
all  things  considered,  less  open  to  adverse  criticism  than  that 
of  the  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor.'  I  know  that  is  a  good 
deal  to  say,  but,  when  I  think  of  the  dangers  that  beset  its 
founders  and  promoters,  and  of  the  wonderful  success  of  the 
movement  that  might  so  easily  have  been  wrecked  upon  any 
one  of  the  thousand  rocks  that  lay  in  its  course,  I  record  the 
above  judgment  as,  before  God,  my  deliberate  conviction." 

Rev.  E.  R.  Dille,  D.D.,  San  Francisco. 

iN  Other  chapters  it  has  been  told  how  the  Society 
began,  and  how  it  began  to  grow  in  many  lands. 
Why  it  grew  is  explained  more  by  the  princi- 
ples which  underlie  it,  and  have  given  it  vitality 
and  propagating  power.  The  means  of  growth, 
the  helps  and  helpers,  provide  other  chapters  of  interest  in 
the  history  of  the  Society. 

Chief  among  these  agencies  of  growth  must  be  reckoned 
the  United  Society  and  the  different  unions,  local.  State,  and 
national,  which  are  all  embraced  in  the  World's  Union  of 
Christian  Endeavor. 

We  have   already  seen   how  the   Society  grew,   at  first 

103 


I04  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

slowly  and  without  remark,  but  soon  by  leaps  and  bounds. 
In  1885  there  were  253  societies  recorded,  of  which  Massa- 
chusetts had  more  than  one-third.  Maine  came  second,  with 
less  than  half  as  many,  while  New  York  had  almost  as  many 
on  her  list  as  the  Pine-Tree  State.  Pennsylvania  had  but  five 
societies  instead  of  the  nearly  five  thousand  of  which  now  she 
boasts.  But  even  these  five  indicated  a  gain  of  more  than 
five  hundred  per  cent  over  the  previous  year. 

Though  there  were  rumors,  more  or  less  in- 
of""  '  "^  definite,  of  the  formation  of  one  or  two  societies 
Rapid  jj^  other  lands,  Christian  Endeavor  was  still  sub- 

Cirowtn.  ' 

stantially  confined  to  New  England  and  New 
York,  with  one  or  two  outposts  beyond  the  Mississippi  River, 
notably  in  the  Pilgrim  Church  of  St.  Louis,  and  still  another 
on  the  far  Pacific  coast,  in  Oakland,  Cal. 

Comparatively  limited,  however,  as  was  the  field,  in- 
quiries were  coming  from  all  parts  of  America,  and  from  oth- 
er lands  as  w^ell.  Unless  the  new  society  were  to  be  stifled  and 
starved  in  its  cradle,  and  die,  and  be  forgotten  like  its  ancient 
predecessor  already  described,  some  decisive  step  must  be 
taken.  Two  or  three  busy  men  could  no  longer  take  care  of 
the  correspondence  involved,  much  less  find  the  time  and  the 
money  to  extend  the  knowledge  of  the  Society  where  it  was 
most  needed. 

In  July,  1885,  the  Fourth  Annual  Convention  of  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  Societies  was  held,  and  on  the  native  soil  of 
Maine;  for  Ocean  Park,  the  Free  Baptist  Camp-Ground  of 
Old  Orchard  Beach,  was  the  chosen  place  for  what  proved  to 
be  an  epoch-making  convention  in  the  history  of  the  Society. 
No  one  realized  its  importance  at  the  time,  for  it 
Epoch=  h^*^  little  in  common  with  the  great  conventions  of 

Making  ^       modern  days.     But  an  ardent  little  company  gath- 

Convention.  :  ,  ,        ^ 

ered  there  m  the  octagonal  pavilion  under  the  fra- 
grant pine-trees,  by  the  sounding  sea,  a  little  company,  to  be 


Helps  and   Helpers, 


105 


Prominent  American  Endeavorers. 

Rev.  S.  W.  Adriance.  Rev.  James  L.  Hill,  D.  D. 

Rev.  Ralph  W.  Brokaw,  D.D.,  , 
Rev.  H.  B.  Grose.  Rev.  Nehemiah  Boynton,  D.  D. 


io6  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

sure,  but  one  that  had  tested  Christian  Endeavor  principles, 
and  believed  in  them,  and  was  ready  to  take  any  wise  ad- 
vance steps  to  send  them  on  their  mission  throughout  the 
world. 

Here  were  Dickinson  and  Hill  and  Boynton  and  Grose 
and  Blakeslee  and  Brokaw  and  Gifford,  all  of  them  young 
men  who  had  not  then  achieved  the  fame  or  the  semi-lunar 
fardels  which  now  adorn  their  names.  There,  too,  was 
Adriance,  the  beloved  first  secretary  of  the  Society,  whose 
church  in  Lowell,  however,  loved  him  as  well  as  the  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  cause,  and  therefore  would  not  allow  him  long 
to  continue  in  the  exclusive  service  of  the  Society. 

There,  too,  was  Ward,  the  brilliant  young  collegian,  who 
soon  succeeded  Adriance  in  the  secretaryship.  Shaw  was  also 
one  of  the  select  Christian  Endeavor  "four  hundred"  who  as- 
sembled at  Old  Orchard.  As  treasurer  of  the  United  Society, 
a  post  which  he  has  held  almost  from  the  beginning,  he  out- 
ranks all  other  Christian  Endeavor  officials  in  length  of  serv- 
ice. Graff,  too,  had  come  on  from  St.  Louis  as  a  representa- 
tive of  the  first  society  beyond  the  Mississippi  River,  and  had 
travelled  farther  than  any  other  half-dozen  delegates.  Now 
for  fifteen  years  he  has  efficiently  helped  the  cause  in  con- 
nection with  The  Christian  Endeavor  World  or  the  United 
Society,  of  which  he  is  now  the  business  manager. 

Mr.  W.  J.  Van  Patten,  of  Burlington,  Vt., 
Leaders.  ^^^  another  young  man  whose  presence  made  this 
convention  memorable.  He  had  already  distin- 
guished himself  in  Christian  Endeavor  circles,  not  only  by 
forming  one  of  the  first  half-dozen  societies  and  introducing 
the  movement  into  the  State  of  Vermont,  but  also  by  giving 
liberally  for  the  promotion  of  the  cause,  circulating  gratis 
a  whole  edition  of  the  first  little  book*  written  concerning 
the  Society,  and  advertising  widely  in  secular  and  religious 

*  "  The  Children  and  the  Church,"  by  Rev.  F.  E.  Clark. 


Helps  and  Helpers.  107 

papers  that,  if  any  one  desired  to  know  more  about  the  So- 
ciety of  Christian  Endeavor  and  its  methods^  information 
would  be  furnished,  free  of  charge,  by  W.  J.  Van  Patten,  of 
Burlington,  Vt. 

Such  was  the  company  of  young  men  gathered  at  this 
small  but  historic  convention.  They  had  an  idea  which  the 
world  needed.  How  should  they  tell  it  out  so  that  the  world 
should  hear?  was  the  great  question  before  them.  The  an- 
swer was,  "We  must  have  a  permanent  organization,  and  a 
general  secretary,  who  shall  give  his  time  to  the  work,"  and 
this  answer  before  the  convention  was  over,  was  embodied  in 
the  formation  of  the  United  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor, 
with  Mr.  W.  J.  V"an  Patten  for  president,  the  Rev.  S.  W. 
Adriance  for  secretary,  and  Mr.  George  M.  Ward  for  treas- 
urer. As  already  explained,  Mr.  Ward  soon  succeeded  Mr. 
Adriance  in  the  secretaryship,  and  Mr.  Shaw  stepped  into  the 
office  for  which  he  was  evidently  fore-ordained,  and  which  he 
has  ever  since  held,  the  treasurership  of  the  United  Society. 

Though  the  secretary  could  not  live  by  bread  alone,  he 
certainly  could  not  live  without  bread.  It  must  be  provided 
for  him,  and  so,  under  the  leadership  of  the  Rev.  James  L. 
Hill,  in  the  space  of  a  short  half-hour  $1,210  was  subscribed 
for  the  modest  salary  of  the  secretary,  and  for  the  promotion 
of  the  work  generally  Eleven  societies  subscribed  no  less 
than  fifty  dollars  apiece.  Others  gave  from  twenty-five  to 
ten  dollars,  and  individuals  also  subscribed  generously. 

Thus  was  launched  the  organization  which  more  than 
any  other  has  contributed  to  the  spread  of  the  Christian  En- 
deavor cause  throughout  America,  and,  we  may  add,  through- 
out the  world,  since  for  many  years  the  United  Society  acted 
in  the  capacity  of  the  World's  Union,  sending  information 
wherever  it  was  asked  for,  printing  the  constitution  and  other 
literature  in  scores  of  different  languages,  and  giving  freely 
of  its  funds  for  the  extension  of  the  cause  in  all  the  world. 


io8  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

In  1895,  to  anticipate  a  little,  the  World's 
World's  Union  was  formed  for  the  express  purpose  of  ad- 
vancing the  cause  of  Christian  Endeavor  through- 
out all  the  earth;  but  for  years  this  Union  relied  upon  the 
United  Society  to  furnish  it  with  the  sinews  of  war  for  its 
undertakings,  and  only  within  two  or  three  years  past,  as  its 
needs  became  greater  than  the  United  Society  could  supply, 
has  it  collected  funds  on  its  own  account. 

To  anticipate  again  the  history  of  the  United  Society, 
it  may  be  as  well  to  state  in  this  connection  that  two  years 
later,  in  1887,  the  writer  was  chosen  president  of  the  United 
Society,  when  it  was  made  plain  to  him  that  he  must  give  up 
his  chosen  and  beloved  work  as  pastor,  and  devote  his  whole 
time  to  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement.  Mr.  Ward  did 
efficient  service  as  secretary  for  three  years,  when  he  was 
succeeded  by  Mr.  John  Willis  Baer,  a  magnetic  speaker  and 
of  fascinating  personality,  who  soon  won  his  way  into  the 
hearts  of  the  young  people  of  America,  and  became  a  fore- 
most leader  of  the  Christian  forces  of  the  country,  while  he,  in 
turn,  was  succeeded  in  1903  by  Mr.  Von  Ogden  Vogt,  who  to- 
day is  winning  his  golden  spurs  as  an  efficient  leader  in  this 
most  responsible  position. 

One  of  the  most  important  functions  of  the  United  So- 
ciety has  been  to  provide  a  model  for  similar  organizations 
throughout  the  world,  a  model,  of  course,  which  is  not 
servilely  followed,  as  it  ought  not  to  be,  for  circumstances  and 
conditions  vary;  but  in  a  general  way  national  Christian  En- 
deavor unions  in  all  parts  of  the  world  have  the  same  duties 
and  are  managed  in  much  the  same  way. 

Great  Britain  and  Australia,  India,  China,  and  Japan, 
South  Africa,  Germany,  Spain,  France,  Switzerland,  Italy, 
and  many  other  countries  now  have  their  United  Societies, 
many  of  them  called  by  that  very  name,  others  called  "Na- 
tional Christian  Endeavor  Unions,"  as  in  Great  Britain. 


Helps  and  Helpers. 


109 


Leading  American  Endeavorers. 


Von  Ogden  Vogt, 

General    Secretary   of   the 
United  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor. 

George  B.  Graff, 
Manager  of  Publications. 


William  Shaw, 

Treasurer  of  the   United 
Society  of  Christian   Endeavor. 

John  Willis  Baer, 

Secretary   of  the  World's 

Christian    Endeavor    Union. 


no  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

Another    important    decision    reached   in   the 

No 

Legislative  formation  of  the  United  Society  was  that  it  should 
unction,  assume  no  legislative  functions  over  the  local  so- 
cieties. It  was  to  be  the  freest  and  loosest  possible  organiza- 
tion compatible  with  strength  and  vigor.  It  was  to  promul- 
gate no  decrees  for  the  local  society,  to  levy  no  taxes  on 
them,  nor  was  it  in  any  way  to  seek  to  regulate  their  affairs; 


Missionaries  and  Leaders  of  Christian  Endeavor  Work  in  India. 

for  it  was  recognized  as  a  fundamental  principle  of  the  new 
movement  that  every  society  must  always  do  and  be  what  its 
local  church  desired.  The  United  Society  did  not  even  re- 
quire societies  to  register  their  names  with  it,  or  tell  of  their 
existence  unless  they  desired,  but  collected  its  statistics  as  best 
it  could,  taking  it  for  granted  that  every  society,  by  reason 
of  its  being  a  Christian  Endeavor  society,  was  in  sympathetic 
relations  with  the  United  Society. 


Helps  and  Helpers.  in 

Since  it  did  not  wish  to  be  a  financial  burden  upon  the 
local  societies,  it  limited  its  expenses  in  every  way,  having 
only  one  paid  officer,  the  general  secretary,  a  policy  to  which 
it  has  resolutely  adhered  ever  since.  At  the  same  time,  it 
went  to  work  as  quickly  as  possible  to  pay  its  own  way,  and 
to  earn  its  own  living.  This  it  did  by  establishing  a  printing 
and  publishing  department,  from  the  modest  proceeds  of 
which  its  expenses  have  ever  since  been  paid,  and  the  surplus, 
secured  by  efficient  administration  of  this  department,  often 
to  the  extent  of  three  or  four  thousand  dollars  a  year,  has  been 
given  to  promote  the  spread  of  Christian  Endeavor  in  distant 
lands. 

One  of  the  resolutions  passed  at  the  Ocean  Park  Conven- 
tion of  1885  reads  as  follows: 

"Be  it  resolved  that  in  every  State  where  there  are  more 
than  two  societies  this  conference  recommend  that  there  be 
an  annual  State  convention,  that  this  convention  occur  some- 
time during  the  autumn  and  winter  months,  and  that  it  re- 
main in  session  not  longer  than  one  day." 

As  has  been  remarked  in  a  former  history,  "the  wisdom 
of  at  least  a  part  of  this  resolution  is  indisputable,  for  there 
could  hardly  be  a  State  convention  in  a  State  which  contains 
less  than  two  societies.  .  .  .  But  all  wisdom  is  not  given 
to  any  one  convention,  and  the  recommendation  that  this  con- 
vention occur  sometime  during  the  autumn  or  winter  months, 
and  that  it  remain  in  session  not  longer  than  one  day,  was  soon 
allowed  to  fall  into  innocuous  desuetude."  In  its 
J'he  spirit  and  general  purpose,  however,   this   recom- 

of  mendation  was  quickly  adopted  by  all  the  States 

and  and  Provinces  and  Territories,  and,  though  no  one 

Unions.         ^^^"  ^^  h^s  fondest  dreams  imagined  that  the  sug- 
gestion would  be  followed  by  other  countries,   it 
was  within  less  than  two  decades  taken  up  by  almost  every  na- 


112  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

tion  in  the  world,  each  one  of  which  now  has  its  annual  or 
biennial  convention. 

Still  other  and  equally  important  results  flowed  from  this 
example  of  united  Christian  Endeavor  action;  for,  as  the  so- 
cieties began  to  multiply,  the  local  groups  of  young  people 
began  to  say  to  themselves:  "Why  should  we  wait  for  the  an- 
nual State  or  national  convention?  Why  not  have  a  union 
and  a  union  meeting  of  our  own?"  The  most  natural  ques- 
tion in  the  world  to  ask,  and  one  which  could  be  answered 
in  but  one  way. 

If  union  is  a  good  thing,  let  us  have  more  of  it.  If  it 
is  worth  while  for  the  societies  of  a  State  to  come  together 
once  a  year,  why  should  not  the  societies  of  a  county,  a  city, 
or  a  village,  where  there  are  two  or  more,  also  meet  for  con- 
ference and  stimulus  and  mutual  help?  It  was  on  November 
1 8,  1885,  that  an  important  gathering  of  the  Christian  En- 
deavorers  of  New  Haven,  Conn.,  was  held  in  the  Humphrey 
Street  Church.  The  call  for  this  meeting  was  signed  by  the 
pastors  of  seven  churches  in  New  Haven,  and  seven  presi- 
dents of  as  many  Endeavor  societies,  who  said  to  their  breth- 
ren to  whom  the  notice  went: 

"Being  greatly  impressed  with  the  importance  of  the 
work  of  the  Young  People's  Societies  of  Christian  Endeavor 
and  the  value  of  mutual  consultation  concerning  it,  we  would 
hereby  invite  you  to  join  with  us  and  with  the  other  societies 
of  Christian  JEndeavor  in  this  State  in  a  State  convention. 
We  would  suggest  that  each  society  be  represented  by  the 
pastor  of  the  church  with  which  it  is  connected,  its  presi- 
dent, secretary,  and  treasurer,  and  one  delegate  for  each  ten 
members  on  its  roll.  These  persons  will  constitute  the  voting 
power  of  the  convention,  and  are  cordially  invited  to  the 
hospitality  of  the  Humphrey  Street  Society." 

This  meeting  was  duly  held,  and  a  preliminary  organiza- 
tion was  formed,  which  ripened  into  the  Connecticut  State 


Helps  and  Helpers.  113 

Christian  Endeavor  Union,  permanently  organized  at  Bridge- 
port the  next  year.     This  memorable  meeting  in 
in°th?  '       New  Haven  in  1885  had  itself  been  preceded  by  at 
^*"*  least  one  other  informal  gathering  of  New  Haven 

Endeavorers  called  together  by  Mr.  Eli  Manchester,  one  of 
the  pioneer  Endeavorers  of  the  State,  when  there  were  but 
three  or  four  societies  in  the  city. 

In  connection  with  this  meeting  an  interesting  story  is  told 
of  the  way  in  which  the  name  now  so  common  throughout 
the  world  was  suggested.  Rev.  Erastus  Blakeslee,  a  pastor 
in  New  Haven,  who  had  been  a  brigadier-general  in  the  civil 
war,  and  who  has  since  become  so  famous  in  the  promotion 
of  systematic  Bible-study  in  the  Sunday-school,  was  the  chair- 
man of  this  meeting.  The  delegates  who  were  present  were 
somewhat  perplexed  as  to  what  to  call  their  new  organization, 
should  they  have  one.  Mr.  Blakeslee,  we  are  told,  was  on 
his  feet  with  a  suggestion,  when  his  daughter,  who  was  sitting 
by  his  side,  said,  "Why  not  call  it  the  Christian  Endeavor 
Union?"  It  at  once  struck  him  as  a  happy  name,  and  he 
suggested  it  to  the  convention,  which  adopted  it  forthwith; 
and  the  first  local  union  was  not  only  born,  but  christened. 

Then  followed  others  in  quick  succession  in  State  and 
county  and  city.  The  Nutmeg  State  has  the  honor  of  the  first 
State  and  local  unions;  but  Massachusetts  and  Maine,  New 
Hampshire  and  Vermont,  New  York  and  Rhode  Island,  and, 
one  by  one,  Boston  and  Portland  and  Philadelphia  and  St. 
Louis,  San  Francisco  and  London,  Calcutta  and  Bombay, 
Foochow  and  Honolulu  and  Helsingfors  and  Geneva,  have 
taken  up  the  idea  and  followed  in  Connecticut's  train;  and 
now  there  are  but  few  countries  or  large  cities  in  the  Prot- 
estant world  that  have  not  their  Christian  Endeavor  Union. 

Some  of  these  unions  are  of  remarkable  size  and  spiritual 
power,  and  do  an  immense  variety  of  work,  which  will  be  re- 
lated more  in  detail  in  later  chapters.     In  London,  for  in- 

8 


114  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


Great 

City 

Unions. 


Stance,  are  found  nearly  eight  hundred  societies  divided  into 
twenty  divisions,  with  their  different  meetings  and 
infinite  variety  of  work,  and  all  meeting  occasion- 
ally in  a  great  all-London  gathering,  which  always 
tests  the  capacity  of  the  Metropolitan  Tabernacle,  or  some 
other  of  the  largest  churches  in  the  city.  As  I  have  been 
writing  this  history,  news  has  come  from  Sheffield  that  their 
union  contains  nearly  two  hundred  societies,  a  gain  of  more 
than  thirty  within  a  year.  Chicago  and  Philadelphia  long 
vied  with  each  other  for  the  first  place  in  the  number  of  their 
societies  and  the  variety  of  their  activities.  But  while  Lon- 
don, with  its  overflowing  millions,  has  naturally  the  advan- 
tage of  all  smaller  cities,  these  two  great  centres  of  American 
life  are  still  friendly  rivals  for  the  second  place;  and  an  im- 
mense amount  of  work  they  accomplish  along  missionary, 
evangelistic,  and  good-citizenship  lines,  as  well  as  holding 

stimulating  and  enthusiastic  union 
meetings,  and  frequent  executive  gath- 
erings which  stir  into  life  the  pulses 
of  hundreds  of  groups  of  young  peo- 
ple in  all  parts  of  their  territory. 
Brooklyn,  Baltimore,  St.  Louis,  Kan- 
sas City,  New  York,  San  Francisco — 
but  where  shall  I  stop  when  I  begin 
to  enumerate?  The  small  unions  have 
done  equally  good  work  with  smaller 
numbers. 

Some  of  the  State  meetings  of  the 
present  day  are  superlatively  strong  in 
George  w.  Coleman  numbers,  enthusiasm,  and  stimulus  for 

service.  A  State  convention,  for  example,  which  assembled 
in  Philadelphia  brought  together  more  than  seventeen  thou- 
sand delegates,  and  was  instinct  with  the  same  spirit  of  broth- 
erhood, the  same  life  and  color  and  joyous  song,  that  make 


Helps  and  Helpers.  115 

the  national  conventions  memorable.  Thus  was  the  resolu- 
tion of  the  little  convention  of  1885  on  the  surf-washed  shores 
of  the  State  of  Maine  carried  out  in  State  and  Province  and 
city  and  nation  the  world  around. 


CHAPTER  IX. 
HELPERS  IN  TYPE. 

CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR  WRITERS  AND  THEIR  BOOKS, 
CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR  PAPERS  IN  MANY  LANDS,  AND 
THE  WORK  OF  PRESS  COMMITTEES  FORM  THE  SUB- 
STANCE OF  THIS  CHAPTER. 

"  The  church  has  yet  to  measure  up  to  an  appreciation  of 
the  full  value  of  the  printing-press  as  a  factor  in  doing  her  best 
and  largest  and  most  far-reaching  work." 

Mr.  John  R.  Clements,  Binghafnton,  N.  Y. 

jYEAR  or  two  ago  a  bibliography  was  published  of 
American  Christian  Endeavor  books  and  book- 
lets. It  was  found  that  nearly  eighty  books  on 
the  subject,  larger  or  smaller,  had  been  pub- 
lished, and  several  hundred  booklets  and  leaf- 
lets in  America  alone.  Since  then  a  number  of  others  have 
been  added.  Great  Britain  has  also  added  very  considerably 
to  this  total  in  the  English  language.  Germany  has  an  abun- 
dant Christian  Endeavor  literature  of  its  own,  and  in  many 
other  languages  there  is  a  beginning  of  such  a  library. 

The  pioneers  of  this  literature  were  a  short  article  al- 
ready mentioned,  "How  One  Church  Looks  after  its  Young 
People,"  published  in  1881  in  The  Congregationalist,  and  a 
leaflet  published  in  the  spring  of  1882  by  the  present  writer, 
entitled  "The  Children  at  the  Church  Doors";  but  the  first 
bound  volume  on  the  subject  did  not  appear  until  the  year 
1882.     It  was  entitled, 

THE  CHILDREN  AND  THE  CHURCH, 

AND 

THE  YOUNG  PEOPLE'S  SOCIETY  OF  CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR 

AS  A  MEANS  OF  BRINGING  THEM  TOGETHER. 

116 


Helpers  in  Type. 


117 


American   Endeavorers. 

John  R.  Clements. 

Amos  R.  Wells.  Arthur  W.  Kelly. 

Rev.  John  F.  Cowan,  D.  D. 


ii8  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

^  This  was  the  author's  first  attempt  at  book- 

First  Book  making,  with  the  exception  of  a  little  volume  on 
Christian  "Vacations  and  How  to  Enjoy  Them,"  published  in 
Endeavor,  j^.^  theological  Seminary  days,  and  a  brief  biography 
of  a  gifted  young  Portland  artist.*  The  book  was  received 
with  unexpected  favor  by  the  press  and  the  public,  more  be- 
cause of  its  timeliness  and  the  interest  aroused  in  its  subject, 
doubtless,  than  because  of  any  literary  merit.  Several  edi- 
tions were  exhausted,  one  in  paper  covers  being  circulated 
gratuitously  among  the  ministers  of  the  country  by  the  Hon. 
W.  J.  Van  Patten,  of  Vermont. 

This  volume  has  been  followed  by  several  others  f  by  the 
same  author,  which  need  not  be  mentioned  in  detail. 

The  most  prolific  and  suggestive  writer  on  Christian  En- 
deavor themes  is  Mr.  Amos  R.  Wells,  formerly  professor  of 
Mr.  Wells's  Greek  in  Antioch  College,  Ohio,  but  since  1892 
c^ntrib  -  ^^^  brilliant  editor  of  The  Christian  Endeavor 
tions.  World.     A  very  large  number  of  valuable  books 

and  booklets  have  come  from  his  facile  pen,  including  text- 
books for  almost  every  committee,  a  "Junior  Manual," 
"Junior  Recitations,"  and  "Oflicers'  Handbook,"  and  a  yearly 
booklet  entitled  "The  Endeavorer's  Daily  Companion," 
which  has  a  very  wide  circulation  in  all  parts  of  the  world. 
Mr.  Well's  stories,  too,  have  been  popular,  as  have  also  those 
by  Dr.  John  F.  Cowan,  another  able  editor  of  The  Christian 
Endeavor  World,  whose  ^'Endeavor  Doin's  Down  to  the  Cor- 
ners," a  racy  dialect  story  of  the  influence  of  Christian  En- 
deavor in  a  country  town,  telling  the  interesting  experiences 
of  "Jonathan  Hayseeds,  C.  E.,"  was  hailed  by  a  large  circle 
of  readers. 

Chief  among  the  story-writers  who  have  found  "green 
fields  and  pastures  new"  in  tales  of  and  for  the  Christian 

*  William   E.   Harwood. 

t  Among    them,    "  Young    People's    Prayer-Meetings."    "  Ways    and    Means," 
"  Christian  Endeavor  Saints,"  "  Training  the  Church  of  the  Future,"  etc. 


Helpers  in  Type.  119 

Endeavor  Society  is  Mrs.  Isabella  M.  Alden,  "Pansy,"  be- 
loved of  so  many  young  people  throughout  the  world.  It  is 
the  fashion  in  some  quarters  to  decry  her  books  and  others 
of  like  character  as  being  "impossibly  good,"  and  dealing  only 
with  superlative  characters;  but  surely  in  these  days,  when  we 
have  so  many  novels  that  are  impossibly  bad,  crammed  with 
vulgar  and  intolerably  vicious  characters,  it  is  not  the  worst 
thing  that  could  be  said  of  a  book  for  young  people  that 
it  presents  the  best  side  of  life,  sets  up  the  highest  ideals,  and 
allows  its  characters  to  strive  to  live  up  to  them.  At  any 
rate,  had  the  reader's  experience  been  mine,  of  hearing  m 
many  parts  of  the  world  how  Mrs.  Alden's  Christian  En- 
deavor books  have  aroused  interest,  stimulated  the  young  peo- 
ple to  new  zeal,  suggested  new  plans  for  Christian  work,  and 
established  new  ideals  in  their  societies,  he  would  agree  that 
such  volumes  are  not  to  be  lightly  decried.  Scores  of  so- 
cieties have  been  started  in  distant  lands  because  of  that  in- 
teresting little  volume  called  "Chrissy's  Endeavor,"  and  some 
of  her  other  stories  have  been  scarcely  less  useful  along  this 
line. 

I  remember  when  I  was  in  South  Africa  a  prominent 
politician,  who  has  since  become  the  premier  and  acting  gov- 
ernor of  one  of  the  colonies,  was  more  anxious  to  hear  of  Mrs. 
Alden  than  of  any  other  American  writer.  He  told  me  that 
her  books  had  been  very  helpful  in  his  religious  life,  and  he 
knew  of  many  young  men  who  had  also  been  helped  by  them. 
This  certainly,  so  far  as  it  goes,  indicates  that  they  have  a 
virile  quality  which  young  men  as  well  as  young 

Mrs.  Alden  ^  -^  ,         . 

and  women  need  not  despise. 

rs.    utz.  Another  most  popular  writer  of  Christian  En- 

deavor stories  is  Mrs.  Alden's  gifted  niece,  Mrs.  Grace  Liv- 
ingston Hill  Lutz,  whose  "Story  of  a  Whim,"  "Because  of 
Stephen,"  and  "The  White  Lady"  are  favorites  everywhere. 
The  Christian  Endeavor  Society  has  been  particularly 


120         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

fruitful  in  its  output  of  devotional  books  for  the  Quiet  Hour 
and  of  practical  volumes  for  missionary  work.  The  Rev.  J. 
Wilbur  Chapman,  D.D.,  the  Rev.  Floyd  W.  Tomkins,  D.D., 
the  Rev.  F.  B.  Meyer,  the  Rev.  Andrew  Murray,  and  the 
beloved  Clarence  E.  Eberman,  whose  short  life  was  so  full 
of  heroic  service  for  the  Christian  Endeavor  cause,  have  con- 
tributed most  interesting  volumes.  In  the  preparation  of 
missionary  literature  Miss  Belle  M.  Brain  has  been  specially 
gifted,  and  Mrs.  Ella  N.  Wood  and  Miss  Kate  Haus  have 
helped  on  the  Junior  cause  by  their  fruitful  pens,  while  the 
Rev.  W.  F.  McCauley's  "Why?"  and  "How?"  have  answered 
many  important  Christian  Endeavor  questions.  Mrs.  Fran- 
cis E.  Clark  has  prepared  two  volumes,  which  have  had  a 
wide  circulation,  "A  Daily  Message  for  Christian  Endeavor- 
ers — a  book  for  the  Quiet  Hour,  the  Prayer  Meeting,  and 
the  Birthday,"  and  the  latest  and  most  complete  volume  for 
Junior  workers,  entitled  "Junior  Endeavor." 

In  Great  Britain  the  Rev.  W.  Knight  Chaplin,*  the  sec- 
retary of  the  British  National  Union,  has  wielded  a  busy, 
forceful  pen  in  the  service  of  Christian  Endeavor,  as  have  also 
Miss  M.  Jennie  Street,  the  Rev.  Joseph  Brown  Morgan,  the 
Rev.  John  Pollock,  and  many  others.  In  Germany  the  Rev. 
Frederick  Blecher  has  added  most  important  contributions 
and  translations  to  the  stock  of  Christian  Endeavor  literature, 
and  his  history  of  the  movement  is  one  of  the  most  complete 
and  valuable  in  any  language. 

When  we  come  to  periodical  literature,  we  enter  upon  a 
wide  field,  for  the  Society  has  been  particularly  prolific  in 
newspapers  and  magazines.  The  place  of  priority  must  be 
given  to  The  Christian  Endeavor  World,  for  as  The  Golden 
Rule  it  was  for  a  long  time  the  only  advocate  and  exponent 
of  the  movement.  After  a  flourishing  existence  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  under  the  old  title,  during  which  it  attained  a 

*  Author  of  a  "  Life  of  Francis  E.  Clark  "  and  other  books. 


Help 


ers  m 


Type. 


121 


*  *  *     FEVRIER  1905     *  *  * 


REDACTION  et  ADMINISTRATION ; 

Rue  de  la  Cite,  4,  Genfeve. 
Le  journal  par  ait  ie  25  de  ckaque  mots. 


ABONNEMENTS 


Suisse,  un  an .     .     .     . 
Union  Postale,  un  an 


Fr.  2  50 
•    3- 


Pour  Christ  et  pour  I'Eglise 

|iar  M.  M.  Lelikvrf.,  adminisfraleur  du  Comity  International. 


clablisscmenl  au  sein  de  nos  Egliscs  de 
socieles  d  aclivile  chrelienne  est  un  sujct 
de  joic  el  d'esperance  pour  ceux  que 
U  prcoccupe  I'avenir  du  christianisme  evan- 
gel iqyc  dans  noire  palric.  En  presence  .des  progres 
de  liiioredulile  et  de  la  demoralisation,  qui  font  lant 
de  viclimes  dans  la  Jeunessc,  nous  nous  sommcs  sou- 
vonl  demaude  4vec  unc  angoisse  palriolique:  Oil  al- 
lons-nous?  Que  sera  I'Eglise  de  demain  si  la  jeuncsse 
echappe  a  I'Eglise  d'aujourd'hui?  Les  Sotielcs  d'ac- 
livite  chrelienne  nous  repondent:  «  Hommes  de  pcu 
de  foi,  pourquoi  avez-vous  doute'  Hil  desperandum, 
Chrislo  diice :  il  n'y  a  pas  lieu  de  desesp^rer,  quand 
on  a  Jesus-Christ  pour  chef.  Et  notre  , devise  est: 
« Pour   Christ   et  pour  I'Eglise!." 

Le  succes  prodigieux  de  ce  mouvement  ddsigne 
cette  oeuvre  commc  une  oeuvre  de  Dieu.  Ce  succfes 
en  effet  est  d'ordre  spiritucl.  Partout  oil  eUfs  s'eta- 
blissenl  siir  leur  base  normale,  les  Societes  d'aclivite 
chrelienne  reveillertT  et"vivifient  les  Eglises.  EUes  leur 
apporlent  un  prinlemps  SDlriliiel.  Jen  connais  plus 
d'une  dont  on  eut  pu  dirt.  Les  elements  de  telles 
socieles  y  font  defaut,  il  a'Y  a  pas  de  jeunesse.  Et 


il  a  suffi  qu'un  homme  de  foi  ail  dit  N  importe!  es- 
sayons!  pour  que  les  Elements  dune  socieie  aient  paru, 
et  qu'on  ail  pu  dirC  de  telle  Eglise,  qui  semblail  frap- 
pee  de  sterilite: 

Chers  activistes,  vous  cles  I'Eglise  de  demain,  ou 
plutot  vous  etes  I'avanl-garde  de  I'Eglise  d'aujour- 
d'hui. Voire  jeune  entrain  fail  tressaillir  de  joie  nos 
vieux  coeurs,  que  les  deceptions  du  passe  onl  un  peu 
dess^ches.  Sojez  ces  jeunes  gens  forl.s,  dont  parlc 
sa^■lt  Jean,  qui  ont  vaincu  le  Malin,  el  Dieu  se  servjra 
de  vous  pour  rfiveiller  nos  Eglises. 

Ce  qui  fail  roriginalile  et  la  fecondite  de  vos  asso- 
ciations, c'esl  qu'elles  font  appel  a  la  volenti,  el  non 
au  sentiment  cl  4  I'imagination.  Laissez-moi,  en  quel- 
ques  mots,  vous  rendre  allenlifs  »  ce  cold  ess"euiiel 
de  voire  programme. 

■Vos  socieles,  nees  en  pays  de  langue  anglaise,  onl 
pris  pour  nom  Societes  d'effort  Chretien  (Christian 
Endeavour  Society).  Ceux  qui  onl  importe  chez  nous 
cette  inslituion,  en  onl  change  le  nom,  le  trouvanl 
sans  doule  un  peu  gauche  el  pcu  clair,  el  onl  sitbsti- 
tu^  Vacjivite  a  Vefforl.  II  y  a  peut-elre  la  un  indice 
du  caract^re  de  noire  race,  qui  rcpiigne  un  peu  i" 
I'efforl,  el  qui  lui  prefere  laclivite  reguliere.  Sans 
allacher  trop  d'importance  aux  mols,  je  voy&<iemande 
de  vous  souvenir  que,  dans  le  litre  original  de  vos 
Socieles,  se  trouve  le  mot  effort.  C'esl  1  idee  ^ui  leur 
a  donne  naissance,  c'esl  en  quejque  soric  leur. marque 
de  fabrique. 


Facsimile  of  a  Swiss  Christian  Endeavor   Paper. 


122         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

weekly  circulation  of  100,000  copies,  its  name  was  changed  to 
^,^g  the    more    distinctive    and    appropriate    one.    The 

Christian       Christian  Endeavor  World.     It  has  owed  much  of 

Endeavor 

World.  its  success  to  the  faithful  and  brilliant  work  of  its 
managing  editor  and  associate  editors,  Mr.  Amos  R.  Wells, 
the  Rev.  J.  F.  Cowan,  D.D.,  and  Mr.  Arthur  W.  Kelly. 

It  is  perhaps  not  inappropriate  to  record  here  that  it  has 
for  nearly  twenty  years,  in  addition  to  circulating  Christian 
Endeavor  principles  and  methods  far  and  wide,  furnished  the 
whole  financial  support  for  its  editor-in-chief,  who  is  also  the 
president  of  the  United  Society;  for  its  business  manager,  who 
is  the  treasurer  of  the  United  Society,  as  well  as  for  its  other 
editors,  whose  pens  have  been  busy  in  preparing  Christian 
Endeavor  literature  of  all  kinds  and  for  people  of  many 
tongues  Thus  it  has  relieved  the  United  Society  and  the 
World's  Union  of  large  financial  responsibility,  and  has  en- 
abled the  officers  of  the  Society  largely  to  earn  their  own 
living,  to  take  long  journeys  in  the  interests  of  the  move- 
ment, and  to  devote  the  money  earned  by  the  publishing  de- 
partment of  the  United  Society  to  the  promotion  of  the  cause 
in  other  ways,  and  in  many  lands. 

Mr.  William  T.  Ellis  and  the  Rev.  J.  L.  Sewall  also  did 
valuable  service  for  The  Golden  Rule  while  connected  with 
it,  and  the  former  has  since  conducted  a  press  syndicate  with  a 
Christian  Endeavor  department. 

Another  weekly  paper  of  growing  power  and  influence, 
devoted  to  the  advancement  of  the  cause,  is  The  Christian  En- 
deavour Times  of  London,  the  chief  British  representative  of 
the  cause.  This  paper,  too,  has  a  wide  circulation,  and  has 
contributed  in  many  ways,  directly  and  indirectly,  financially 
and  otherwise,  to  the  advancement  of  the  Society  in  the  United 
Kingdom. 

A  dainty  little  monthly  printed  on  pale-green  paper  is 
The  Irish  Endeavourer,  which  is  always  full  of  good  news  and 


Helpers  in  Type.  123 

helpful  suggestions.  The  Church  of  England  Endeavourer 
represents  the  growing  and  vigorous  societies  in  the  Estab- 
lished Church  of  England. 

To  return  to  America,  it  ought  to  be  recorded  in  this  con- 
nection that  many  of  the  States  and  large  city  unions  have 
their  own  Christian  Endeavor  organs,*  sometimes  of  consider- 
able size  and  with  a  paid  circulation.  Most  States  and  cities, 
however,  have  contented  themselves  with  a  comparatively 
small  "bulletin"  calling  attention  to  coming  meetings,  and 
recording  events  of  local  importance.  Some  States  have 
found  to  their  sorrow  that  it  is  easier  to  start  a  magazine  than 
to  keep  it  up  to  a  high  standard  of  excellence,  and  some  of 
them  have  unfortunately  involved  the  State  unions  in  a  large 
and  needless  expense,  so  that  the  tendency  is  toward  a  smaller, 
but  none  the  less  valuable,  bulletin  for  the  diffusion  of  State 
news  and  notices. 

Australian  ^^  Other  parts  of  the  English-speaking  world 

a"^  are    published    such    helpful    magazines    as    The 

European  .     ,  .  .  . 

Endeavor  Christian  Endeavour  Link  of  Victoria;  The  Roll- 
apers.  ^^^  ^^  Ncw  South  Wales ;  The  Christian  En- 
deavour News  of  South  Australia,  published  in  Adelaide; 
and  The  Burning  Bush,  the  organ  of  the  New  Zealand  En- 
deavorer.  The  South  African  Endeavourer  looks  after  the 
interests  of  the  cause  among  the  English  societies  of  its  con- 
tinent, while  the  Dutch  Endeavorers  also  have  their  own 
organ. 

On  the  continent  of  Europe  a  leading  Christian  En- 
deavor paper  is  Die  Jugend-Hilfe,  which  every  month  is  load- 
ed with  solid  and  substantial  material  of  interest  to  our  Ger- 
man brethren.  It  has  been  constantly  improving  under  the 
zealous  editorship  of  Secretary  Blecher,  and  is  a  real  power 

*It  is  impossible  to  publish  the^names  of  all  in  this  connection,  since  many  are 
but  temporary  in  their  character;  b'ut  they  fill  a  valuable  and  increasingly  useful 
place.  A  list  of  leading  State  papers  published  ten  years  ago  is  printed  in  "World- 
Wide  Endeavor." 


christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


=*^ 


# 

CbwUo 

^ 

EL  ESFORZADOR 
MMEXICANOOt 


[JFUER20 

■'•™,..  (ristuno 


Our  Brothers 
in  Type. 


for  good  in  the  Fatherland.  It  has  lately 
been  supplemented  by  a  bright  little 
paper  for  the  German  Juniors  called 
Der  Kinderbund. 

L'Activite  Chretienne,  of  Geneva, 
is  the  principal  paper  published  in  the 
French  language,  and  is  always  fresh 
and  interesting. 

Esfuerzo  Cristiano  is  the  name  of 
an  admirable  twenty-page  Christian  En- 
deavor monthly  published  at  Madrid,  to 
which  Dr.  Gulick  and  leading  Spanish 
Endeavorers  contribute  of  their  best. 

Another  Spanish  Christian  En- 
deavor paper  is  published  by  the  Metho- 
dist Christian  Endeavorers  of  Barcelona, 
and  still  another  excellent  paper  in  the 
same  language  is  the  organ  of  the  Mexi- 
can Endeavorers. 

In  Sweden  De  Ungas  Tidning  lends 
its  columns  to  the  use  of  the  Endeavorers, 
and  in  Italy  a  Christian  Endeavor  de- 
partment is  kept  up  in  the  weekly  Glo- 
ve ntu. 

Of  all  the  papers  published  in  mis- 
sionary lands  India  Christian  Endeavour 
is  said  to  be  the  most  beautiful  in  typog- 
raphy and  illustrations.  The  Japanese 
Christian  Endeavor  paper  has  fortunate- 
ly two  front  pages,  to  use  a  Hibernicism, 
one  at  the  beginning  and  the  other  at 
the  end.  As  the  Japanese  begin  on  what 
v/ould  be  our*  back  cover,  the  arrange- 
ment is  perfectly  satisfactory,  since  three- 


Helpers  in  Type.  125 

fourths  of  the  paper  is  in  Japanese,  edited  by  the  Rev.  T. 
Harada,  and  one-fourth  is  in  English,  edited  by  the  Rev.  J. 
H.  Pettee,  D.  D. 

The  only  paper  regularly  published  in  Portuguese  is 
the  Brazilian  monthly  O  Esforco  Christao. 

In  many  other  countries  where  regular  periodicals  are 
not  sustained,  more  or  less  frequent  issues  of  Christian  En- 
deavor literature,  reports  of  conventions,  etc.,  are  published. 
Thus  in  China  a  very  influential  document,  describing  the 
last  great  convention,  is  w^idely  circulated.  In  Finland  a 
number  of  translations  of  leading  Christian  Endeavor  publi- 
cations have  been  given  to  the  public,  and  in  Hungary  Pro- 
fessor Szabo's  book  entitled  "Revesetyen  Zovetsegek"  has 
largely  helped  the  cause. 

The  Swedish,  Norwegian,  Finnish,  and  Lettish  Endeav- 
orers  have  generous  space  accorded  to  them  in  other  religious 
papers,  which  thus  serve  for  the  present  the  needs  of  the  So- 
ciety. 

In  enumerating  the  distinctively  Christian  Endeavor  pa- 
pers we  must  not  overlook  The  Christian  Endeavour  Gem  is- 
sued by  the  Jamaica  Union,  which  is  the  worthy  organ  of 
these  vigorous  and  growing  societies. 

Nor  should  we  forget  European  Christian  Endeavour, 
edited  by  Mr.  Stanley  P.  Edwards,  and  devoted  to  the  inter- 
ests of  the  Society  in  all  parts  of  continental  Europe. 

There  are  also  a  number  of  denominational  Christian 
Endeavor  papers,  besides  The  Church  of  England  Christian 
Endeavourer,  like  The  Mennonite  Endeavorer,  the  K.  L. 
C.  E.  Journal,  whose  cabalistic  letters  stand  for  "Keystone 
League  of  Christian  Endeavor,"  the  organization  of  the 
Evangelical  Association  churches. 

The  Allen  Endeavorer  and  Varick  Endeavorer  are  two 
papers  of  real  value  published  by  the  colored  people  of 
America,  representing  the  two  great  divisions  of  the  Metho- 


126  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

dist  colored  churches,  while  the  Welsh  people  in  America 
also  have  their  paper,  entitled  Y  Trysor,  which  succeeds  Y 
Lamp. 

For  a  limited  time  and  for  special  occasions 
journa'i  temporary  Christian  Endeavor  papers  are  also 
often  published ;  for  instance,  the  last  Australasian 
convention  held  in  Hobart,  Tasmania,  showed  its  enterprise 
by  publishing  a  daily  during  the  sessions  of  the  convention, 
while  the  Leeds  Endeavorers,  in  anticipation  of  the  Na- 
tional British  Convention,  which  will  soon  assemble  in  their 
city,  has  published  for  months  in  advance  a  bright  and  breezy 
journal  relating  to  the  coming  convocation. 

In  this  connection  the  efforts  of  many  press  committees 
connected  with  local  Christian  Endeavor  unions  should  not 
be  overlooked.  They  have  been  invaluable  to  the  cause  of 
Christian  Endeavor  by  maintaining  columns  of  Christian  En- 
deavor news  and  notes  in  local  papers,  furnishing  informa- 
tion for  editorial  comment  and  frequently  longer  articles  of 
more  permanent  value  for  magazines  and  newspapers. 

Mr.  John  R.  Clements  of  Binghamton,  N.  Y.,  has  been 
especially  active  and  successful  in  developing  this  feature  of 
Christian  Endeavor  enterprise.  As  chairman  of  the  press 
committee  of  the  New  York  Union,  and  more  lately  as  secre- 
tary of  the  press  department  of  the  United  Society,  he  has 
greatly  widened  this  field  of  activity.  Every  week  he  fur- 
nishes for  the  American  Press  Association  a  large  page  of 
Christian  Endeavor  matter,  containing  notes  on  the  prayer- 
meeting  topic  for  each  week,  and  spicy  bits  of  information, 
helpful  thoughts,  and  wise  plans,  which  are  printed  in  hun- 
dreds, if  not  thousands,  of  daily  and  weekly  papers.  The 
prayer-meeting  notes  are  prepared  by  the  Rev.  S.  H.  Doyle, 
and  furnish  a  helpful  exposition  of  each  topic,  which  is  wide- 
ly used.  Mr.  Clements's  energy  and  enterprise  also  find  an 
outlet  in  other  papers,  and  his  practical  suggestions  in  The 


Helpers  in  Type.  127 

Christian   Endeavor   World   are    among   the    most   valuable 
which  it  receives. 

The  Rev.  James  H.  Ross  also  does  much  to  keep  some 
of  the  leading  papers  and  magazines  of  the  country  informed 
in  regard  to  the  progress  of  Christian  Endeavor. 

Some  of  the  leaflets  and  booklets  relating  to  the  Society 
have  had  an  enormous  circulation.  One  little  booklet  of 
some  twenty  pages,  entitled  "The  Society  of  Christian  En- 
deavor, What  It  Is,  and  How  It  Works,"  later  editions  of 
which  are  called  "Christian  Endeavor  in  Principle  and  Prac- 
tice," has  been  circulated  by  the  hundred  thousand,  and  has 
been  translated  into  a  score  of  languages.  Others  relating  to 
the  different  committees,  the  history  of  the  Society,  etc.,  have 
had  nearly  as  large  a  circulation.  In  the  aggregate  many 
millions  of  these  booklets  have  been  sent  forth  and  very  large- 
ly free  of  all  expense  to  those  who  have  received  them,  the 
United  Society  of  America  having  expended  thousands  of 
dollars  in  propagating  the  principles  of  Christian  Endeavor. 

It  is  not  improper  to  add  here  that  the  authors  of  these 
booklets  and  tracts  have  received  no  royalty  or  compensation 
of  any  kind  for  them,  though  only  a  fraction  of  a  cent  on 
each  one  published  would  have  given  them  comfortable  for- 
tunes. It  is  only  on  the  larger  Christian  Endeavor  volumes 
that  the  authors  have  received  any  royalty,  and  not  always  on 
these,  for  Christian  Endeavor  in  type  has  been  very  largely  a 
labor  of  love. 

To  all  who  have  had  anything  to  do  with  the  literature 
of  the  movement  it  has  been  enough  to  know  that  printer's  ink 
and  type  have  been  used  in  a  marvellous  way  in  making 
known  the  principles  and  progress  of  the  Society  in  every 
land.  If  the  Society  set  up  patron  saints  of  its  own,  Guten- 
berg would  doubtless  be  one  of  the  first  to  be  canonized. 
Even  the  "printer's  devil"  should  hold  a  warm  place  in  the 
affections  of  Christian  Endeavorers. 


CHAPTER  X. 
THE  GREAT  CONVENTIONS. 

WHEREIN  TWO  OF  THE  GREATEST  CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR 
CONVENTIONS  ARE  DESCRIBED,  WHICH,  LIKE  MANY 
SINCE,  HAVE  COMPELLED  THE  ATTENTION  OF  THE 
WORLD. 

"  The  great  number,  the  zeal  and  enthusiasm  of  these  young 
people  in  their  great  interdenominational  and  international 
Christian  Endeavor  brotherhood  should  effect  much  in  the 
nature  of  a  good  understanding  between  the  young  people 
of  the  world."  Sir  Henry  Bail, 

Acting  Governor  of  Natal. 

N  no  way  has  the  Christian  Endeavor  idea  been 
'^  spread  throughout  the  world  more  effectively 
and  rapidly  than  by  the  great  conventions, 
which  have  been  a  unique  feature  of  the  move- 
ment. It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  Society 
has  created  a  new  type  of  a  religious  convention.  Never  be- 
fore in  the  history  of  Christianity  have  such  throngs  of  young 
people  come  together  as  now  assemble  in  many  lands  at  the 
annual  Endeavor  conventions. 

When  thirty  thousand  or  more  young  men  and  women, 
with  a  very  considerable  sprinkling  of  their  pastors  and  older 
friends,  invade  a  city,  and  spend  a  week  in  prayer  and  praise 
and  conference,  it  is  bound  to  make  an  impression  upon  the 
community  and,  through  the  press,  upon  the  country  at  large. 
People  ask:  "What  is  this  new  thing  that  compels  such  en- 
thusiasm and  zeal?  Is  it  not  something  that  we  need  in  our 
church?  Should  we  not  have  part  in  the  fellowship  of  the 
movement?" 

128 


The  Great  Conventions. 


129 


130  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

The  young  people  who  attend  the  convention  go  home 
with  new  ideas,  larger  aspirations,  and  a  freshly  kindled  pur- 
pose to  advance  the  cause  which  brought  them  together. 
Their  convention  rallies  and  echo  meetings  are  heard  in  the 
remotest  sections  of  the  country,  and  thus  the  blessed  con- 
tagion of  a  deeper  religious  purpose  and  a  more  intelligent 
zeal  spreads  from  heart  to  heart,  until  millions  are  affected 
by  it. 

To  show  the  influence  and  power  of  these  conventions  in 
advancing  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  and  other  good 
causes  I  have  chosen  seven  typical  conventions  in  widely  sep- 
arated cities — New  York,  1892;  Boston,  1895;  London,  1900; 
Ningpo,  1905;  Berlin,  1905;  Hobart,  1905;  and  Baltimore, 
1905. 

These  conventions  have  been  chosen  not  because  they 
were  larger  and  more  important  than  many  others  that  have 
been  held,  but  because  it  is  impossible  within  the  limits  of 
this  volume  to  tell  the  story  of  all,  even  briefly,  and  because 
these  show  how  in  different  lands  the  same  leaven  has  been 
at  work  in  the  meal,  and  how  the  same  inspiring  thoughts  of 
fellowship  and  service  produce  the  same  gracious  enthusi- 
asms. 

In  describing  these  conventions  it  will  be  necessary  to 
depart  from  the  chronological  order  of  this  history,  and  bring 
in  at  this  early  date  some  of  the  latest  happenings  in  the  So- 
ciety; but  they  are  introduced  here  in  order  that  the  means 
which  God  has  used  in  promoting  the  growth  of  the  move- 
ment, the  helps  and  helpers  in  the  advancement  of  Christian 
Endeavor,  may  be  fully  understood. 

ry^^^  The  first  little  gathering  in  Williston  Church 

First  in  1882,  when  the  parent  society  called  its  friends 

Endeavor  and  neighbors  together,  has  already  been  described. 
Convention.  ^^.^  ^^^  followed  by  a  convention  in  the  follow- 
ing year  in  the  Second  Parish  Church  of  Portland,  in  1884 


The  Great  Conventions.  131 

by  a  modest  gathering  in  the  Kirk  Street  Church  in  Lowell, 
in  1885  by  the  convention  already  described  at  Ocean  Park, 
where  the  United  Society  was  formed,  in  1886  and  1887  by 
two  memorable  and  deeply  spiritual  conventions  in  Saratoga. 
In  the  second  of  the  Saratoga  conventions  two  thousand  dele- 
gates were  enrolled.  But  the  tide  was  still  rising,  and  in  1888 
five  thousand  Endeavorers  gathered  in  Battery  D  in  Chicago. 
Still  larger  numbers  from  the  seven  thousand  societies  then 
in  existence  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Philadelphia  in  1889.  In 
1890  the  ever-increasing  hosts  gathered  in  St.  Louis,  and  the 
following  year  the  Twin-City  Convention  of  Minneapolis 
and  St.  Paul  registered  the  high-water  mark  up  to  that  date 
of  Christian  Endeavor  and  Christian  Endeavor  gatherings. 

Up  to  this  time,  however,  these  gatherings  had  made  no 
very  deep  impression  upon  the  country  at  large.  The  cities 
where  they  were  held  were  most  hospitable  and  generous  in 
their  welcome,  and  the  Endeavorers  who  attended  received 
untold  spiritual  good;  but  it  remained  for  the  convention  of 
1892  in  New  York  City  really  to  command  the  attention  of 
the  country,  and  to  lead  people  everywhere  to  see  that  a  new 
type  of  religious  gathering  with  new  enthusiasms  and  new 
possibilities  had  been  born. 

New  York  City  was  in  advance  naturally  somewhat  cyn- 
ical and  sceptical  concerning  the  convention,  whenever  it  took 
time  to  think  about  it  at  all.  A  prominent  pastor  told  me 
that  the  convention  would  not  make  "a  ripple  of  excitement" 
in  New  York  City.  "It  might  attract  some  attention  in  a 
small  city,  but  conventions  come  and  go  and  leave  no  sign 
behind  them  in  New  York."  One  hotel-keeper  told  the  com- 
mittee of  arrangements,  when  they  went  to  him  to  seek  ac- 
commodations, that  he  would  take  in  the  whole  convention, 
since  his  hostelry  would  accommodate  no  less  than  fifteen 
hundred  people.  When  the  committee  told  him  that  they 
expected  ten  times  fifteen  hundred,  he  regarded  them  with 


132  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

pitying  incredulity,  and  most  people,  except  the  men  of  faith 
and  works  who  constituted  the  splendid  local  committee,  were 
inclined  to  discount  the  expectations  in  regard  to  the  number 
of  delegates  by  at  least  three-fourths. 

►P^g  At  first  the  daily  papers  were  inclined  to  give 

Wonderful    buf  little  attention,   and  some  of   their  attentions 

Convention  '  .  i         o        j 

in  were  by  no  means  riattermg.     Smce   the   Sunday 

New    Y^orlc 

question  was  especially  prominent  just  at  that  time, 
and  the  Endeavorers  had  taken  a  decided  stand  in  regard  to 
the  closing  of  the  gates  of  the  World's  Fair  on  the  Lord's 
Day,  one  of  the  leading  papers  in  an  editorial  paragraph  had 
"nothing  better  to  do"  than  to  berate  "these  beardless  enthu- 
siasts who  have  nothing  better  to  do  than  to  howl  for  a  Puri- 
tan Sunday." 

But  when  the  Endeavorers  began  to  pour  into  the  city, 
ten,  twenty,  even  thirty,  thousand  of  them,  when  traffic  was 
blocked  on  the  railways  by  the  great  number  of  excursion- 
ists; when  New  York's  streets  became  gay  with  the  fluttering 
badges  and  bright  faces  of  a  multitude  of  youth  they  were  un- 
accustomed to  see,  a  different  spirit  was  noticed.  "Where 
have  they  come  from?"  "What  are  they  doing?"  "What 
does  Christian  Endeavor  mean?"  "What  draws  so  many 
young  people  together?"  were  questions  that  were  heard  on 
every  side.  The  papers  began  to  give  many  columns  to  a 
report  of  the  addresses,  and  these  reports  were  supplemented 
by  generous  and  kindly  editorial  words.  Madison  Square 
Garden,  though  it  was  seated  for  fourteen  thousand  people, 
was  entirely  inadequate  to  contain  the  throng  that  wished  to 
attend,  and  thousands  of  disappointed  men  and  women  be- 
sieged the  doors  at  every  session.  Immense  overflow  meet- 
ings were  held  in  the  open  air,  while  all  the  churches  in  the 
vicinity  were  crowded  with  similar  gatherings. 

A  splendid  programme  had  been  provided  in  advance, 
but  so  many  distinguished  men,  who  happened  to  be  in  the 


The  Great  Conventions. 


133 


city,  were  attracted  by  the  convention,  and  were  called  upon 
by  the  audience  for  brief  addresses,  that  these  interruptions 
and  unexpected  contributions  constituted  some  of  the  most 
mert^orable  features. 

^'I  think  one  of  the  greatest  surprises  you  have  given  to 
this  wonderful  city,"  said  the  Hon.  John  Wanamaker,  at  that 


A  Typical   Christian   Endeavor   Convention   Tent   Scene. 

time  the  postmaster-general  of  the  United  States, ',^'is  the  way 
in  which  you  Christian  men  and  women  are  taking  possession 
of  it.  Who  ever  would  have  believed  that  you  would  march 
on  the  city  thirty  thousand  strong?  I  think  if  you  were  to  go 
out  into  the  streets,  you  would  have  to  add  twenty  thousand  to 
that  figure.  (I  rejoice  to-night  that  the  Christian  Endeavor 
Mr.  movement  has  brought  something  to  this  age,  not  a 

makeT's  local  Or  temporary  thing,  but  something  that  com- 
Address.  mands  the  heart  and  the  good  opinion  of  the  whole 
world.  In  the  simplest,  and  in  the  most  practicable,  and  in  the 
most  common-sense  way,  on  unsectarian  lines,  this,  the  bright- 
est star  in  the  Christian  world,  has  risen,  sending  out  its  light 


134  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

and  beneficence  over  the  years  of  this  closing  century,  to 
usher  in  the  dawn  of  a  new  century  pf  the  blessedness  of 
Christian  living  all  the  world  around." 

One  deep  impression  that  was  made  by  this  vast  company 
of  eager  youth  was  of  the  enduring  character  of  Christianity, 
its  ever-living  vitality  in  adopting  new  forms  of  expression 
when  old  ones  are  outworn.  The  venerable  Dr.  Philip 
Schaflf,  the  Nestor  of  church  historians,  who  was  upon  the 
convention  platform  (and  it  proved  to  be  almost  his  last  ap- 
pearance in  public),  declared  that  this  convention  seemed  to 
him  to  open  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  the  Christian  church, 
while  the  Hon.  J.  W.  Foster,  the  eminent  diplomatist  and 
then  the  secretary  of  state  of  the  United  States,  in  his  im- 
promptu remarks,  when  he  was  called  out  by  Endeavorers 
who  noticed  him  in  the  audience,  said:  "We  hear  much 
from  certain  quarters  in  this  day  about  the  decay  of  evangel- 
ical religion,  and  of  the  growth  of  agnosticism  and  the  vari- 
ous forms  of  disbelief,  which  are  to  sweep  off  the  earth  our 
Bibles  and  our  Christianity.  Would  that  these  critics  could 
stand  in  my  place  to-night.  They  might  be  led  to  believe 
that  faith  in  a  risen  Saviour  and  in  the  inspired  word  of  God 
were  neither  dead  nor  dying  in  this  land." 

The  patriotic  and  good-citizenship  note,  which  since  then 
has  always  been  sounded  at  Christian  Endeavor  conventions, 
was  struck  by  the  Hon.  Whitelaw  Reid,  the  present  ambassa- 
dor at  the  court  of  St.  James,  who,  when  called  out  from  the 
audience,  awoke  great  enthusiasm  by  saying: 

"Our  fathers,  who  laid  the  foundations  of  the  civil  and 
religious  liberty  which  we  enjoy,  were  men  who  planted  their 
The  ^  fortifications  on  every  hillside  as  they  advanced  to 
Fort!fic^=^  the  conquest  of  the  continent.  You  know  what  these 
tions.  fortifications  were — the  schoolhouse  and  the  church. 

Let  us  guard  them  as  our  fathers  guarded  them,  and  we  shall 
preserve  the  fair  heritage  we  have  received,  and  transmit  it 


The  Great  Conventions.  135 

in  our  turn,  grand  and  beneficent,  beyond  their  thought  or 
ours,  to  untold  generations  of  men." 

At  this  convention,  too,  for  the  first  time  on  any  extend- 
ed scale  the  picturesque  feature  of  Endeavorers  from  other 
lands  in  their  native  costume  made  a  deep  impression.  Mr. 
Sumantrao  Vishnu  Karmarkar,  a  native  Hindu,  of  fine  pres- 
ence, wearing  his  turban  and  silken  sash,  was  given  a  great 
ovation,  and  he  spoke  in  excellent  English  on  the  subject, 
"Christianity  for  India."  He  has  since  been,  and  is  to-day,  a 
prominent  leader  of  the  native  Christian  Endeavor  forces  of 
India.  Mr.  Ju  Hawk,  of  St.  Louis,  a  young  Chinaman, 
thrilled  the  audience  with  his  speech  on  Christian  Endeavor 
for  China,  and  Mr.  Thomas  E.  Besolow,  a  native  African 
prince,  made  a  happy  address  for  the  Dark  Continent.  A 
native  of  Alaska,  also,  Mr.  Marsden,  who  was  then  studying 
to  go  back  as  a  missionary  to  his  people,  among  whom  he  has 
since  labored,  spoke  most  interestingly.  Thus  a  cosmopoli- 
tan flavor  was  given  to  this  convention  such  as  no  previous 
meeting  had  had. 

For  the  first  time,  too,  in  the  history  of  these  conventions 
denominational  rallies  were  held,  to  make  evident  to  all  the 
world  that  Christian  Endeavor,  though  an  interdenomina- 
tional society,  so  far  from  being  antagonistic  to  denomina- 
tional control,  oversight,  and  fellowship,  gladly  welcomed 
them.  Twenty  dififerent  denominations  held  rallies  in 
churches  of  their  own  order,  and  in  almost  every  case,  the 
record  says,  "the  numbers  were  large,  the  enthusiasm  intense, 
and  the  spirit  of  devotion  no  less  marked  than  in  the  inter- 
denominational fellowship." 

Here,  too,  the  Juniors  first  had  their  innings.  For  the 
first  international  Junior  rally  was  held  in  the  Broadway 
Tabernacle,  under  the  lead  of  Mrs.  Alice  May  Scudder,  a  de- 
voted Junior  worker,  who  had  given  much  thought  to  the 
welfare  of  the  boys  and  girls. 


136         christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

I  have  dwelt  at  a  somewhat  disproportionate  length  upon 
some  of  the  characteristics  of  this  convention  because  they 
emphasized  for  the  first  time  certain  great  features  of  Chris- 
tian Endeavor,  which  have  been  widely  copied  in  other  con- 
ventions throughout  the  world.  It  is  evident  that  to  tell  the 
story  of  such  a  gathering  in  a  few  paragraphs  is  a  difficult 
task,  since  the  records,  the  pen-pictures,  and  the  addresses  of 
each  of  these  great  conventions  fill  a  large  volume. 

But  the  history  of  Christian  Endeavor  cannot  be  written, 
its  influence  estimated,  or  its  growth  accounted  for  without 
making  these  gatherings  prominent  in  its  story. 


A  Christian  Endeavor  Convention  Audience  in  Boston. 

I  pass  over  in  this  connection  the  conventions  of  1893  ^^^ 
1894,  the  one  held  in  Montreal  and  the  other  in  Cleveland, 
not  because  they  were  not  as  memorable  and  important  as  any 
in  the  long  series,  but  because  a  choice  must  be  made,  and 
only  a  few  of  the  many  can  be  described  in  any  detail.  These 
conventions  of  1893  and  1894,  ^^^o,  are  alluded  to  elsewhere. 

In  1895  the  Christian  Endeavor  hosts  gathered  in  Boston. 


The  Great  Conventions.  137 

For  various  reasons  this  was  the  largest  convention  held  up  to 
this  date,  and  perhaps  the  largest  ever  held  in  the 
Boston  history  of  the  Society,  though  it  is  difficult  to  say 
o?"i8o5**^"  with  absolute  certainty,  since  it  is  impossible  always 
to  record  the  full  attendance.  But  Boston  was,  and 
had  been  for  many  years,  the  headquarters  of  the  United  Soci- 
ety. It  was  the  centre  of  the  most  thickly  settled  Christian 
Endeavor  district  in  America;  it  possessed  more  attractive 
historic  associations  than  any  other  city  of  the  continent; 
it  enjoys  the  refreshing  breezes  of  the  Atlantic  coast;  and  all 
these  side  attractions  combined  to  swell  the  attendance  to  the 
unprecedented  number  of  56,425  delegates  actually  regis- 
tered. Of  these  just  about  half,  or  28,000,  came  from  outside 
the  State  of  Massachusetts,  while  the  Bay  State  furnished 
the  rest. 

It  was  known  in  advance  that  no  hall  in  the  city  would 
begin  to  accommodate  the  eager  throng  who  would  wish  to 
attend  the  convention;  and  so,  though  the  headquarters  were 
established  in  Mechanics'  Hall,  with  an  audience-room  hold- 
ing six  thousand  people,  and  with  numberless  side  rooms  and 
smaller  halls  for  the  accommodation  of  committees  and  State 
delegations,  some  other  places  of  meeting,  it  was  foreseen, 
must  be  provided.  For  this  purpose  two  enormous  tents 
were  made,  and  were  christened  "Tent  Williston"  and  "Tent 
Endeavor,"  each  of  which  accommodated  fully  ten  thousand 
people,  while  two  thousand  more  standing  just  outside  the 
canvas  could  join  in  the  music,  and  often  hear  the  addresses. 

The  city  was  gay  with  bunting  by  day  and  brilliant  with 
welcomes  in  electric  lights  by  night.  Some  merchants  ex- 
pended hundreds  and  even  thousands  of  dollars  for  decora- 
tions of  various  descriptions,  while  the  city  fathers  co-oper- 
ated most  heartily  with  the  committee  from  the  beginning. 
The  historic  "Common,"  which  is  so  sacred  in  the  eyes  of 
Bostonians,  was  given  over  to  the  Endeavorers  for  the  time 


138         christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

being,  and  the  great  audience-tents  were  pitched  there,  with 
other  smaller  ones  necessary  to  accommodate  the  press,  the 
hospital,  etc.,  near  by.  The  Public  Garden  was  decorated 
by  the  city  gardeners  with  Endeavor  emblems  and  mottoes, 
and  everywhere  throughout  the  parks  could  be  read  the  le- 
gends, "For  Christ  and  the  Church,"  "Not  to  be  ministered 
unto,  but  to  minister,"  while  festooned  archways  with  the 
words  "Welcome  to  Boston"  conspicuously  displayed  im- 
pressed Endeavorers  with  the  heartiness  of  their  greeting 
from  the  Hub. 

Even  before  they  reached  the  city  they  found 
T^f.  the  stations  for  twenty  miles  around  Boston  dec- 

Daily  ■' 

Papers  oratcd  in  Christian  Endeavor  colors.  The  press 
Convention,  caught  the  Spirit  of  the  movement  at  an  early  day, 
and  in  advance  devoted,  in  the  aggregate,  hundreds 
of  columns  to  the  coming  convention,  while  their  reports  of 
the  meetings  when  they  occurred,  embellished,  as  they  often 
were,  with  colored  plates  and  half-tone  pictures,  as  well  as 
with  a  multitude  of  illustrations  of  the  ordinary  newspaper 
variety,  went  far  beyond  anything  of  the  kind  that  had  ever 
been  attempted  by  American  journalism  in  the  past. 

Not  only  did  Boston  papers  give  voluminous  reports  of 
the  convention,  but  those  outside  of  "the  Hub"  evidently  re- 
garded it  as  a  great  event.  One  paper  published  in  Chicago 
sent  seven  of  its  staff  to  Boston  to  report  the  meetings,  and 
gave  by  telegraph  three  or  four  pages  each  day  concerning 
the  convention,  a  marvellous  feat  in  journalism,  indeed,  when 
it  is  remembered  that  it  was  a  purely  religious  gathering  that 
was  thus  recorded. 

Another  Chicago  editor,  not  to  be  outdone  in  generosity 
and  enterprise,  telegraphed  to  Boston  an  ofifer  of  $5,000  each 
year  for  three  years  if  the  United  Society  would  move  its 
headquarters  to  Chicago.  For  obvious  reasons  this  generous 
of]fer  was  declined,  but  if,  as  the  proverb  says,  "money  talks," 


The  Great  Conventions.  139 

it  indicated  the  wide-spread  interest  in  the  convention  and 
the  movement  for  w^hich  it  stood.  More  than  any  of  its  prede- 
cessors the  Boston  convention  of  '95  was  an  "International 
Convention,"  though  for  some  years  this  name  had  been  given 
to  them  because  of  the  hearty  co-operation  of  the  Canadians 
with  their  brethren  in  the  United  States.  To  this  gathering 
came  a  number  of  accredited  delegates  from  Great  Britain, 
among  them  the  Rev.  Knight  Chaplin,  secretary  of  the  Brit- 
ish Union;  the  Rev.  John  Pollock  from  Scotland;  Messrs. 
Lamont  and  Montgomery  from  Ireland,  Burgess 
from^^  ^^  from  Wales,  and  Mursell  from  England,  all  of 
Lands!*  them,  then  and  ever  since,  prominent  in  British 
Christian  Endeavor  circles,  and  all  of  them  adding 
eloquence  and  interest  to  the  convention. 

The  president  of  the  New  South  Wales  Union,  the  Rev. 
W.  J.  L.  Closs,  also  contributed  to  the  success  of  the  meeting, 
travelling  half  around  the  world  to  be  present,  and  returning 
home  the  second  day  after  the  convention  closed. 

Good  citizenship  and  world-wide  missions  had  been 
adopted  before  as  two  of  the  distinctive  features  of  Christian 
Endeavor,  much  attention  having  been  given  to  them  in  the 
president's  address  at  Montreal  in  1893;  but  they  were  espe- 
cially emphasized  at  the  Boston  convention.  The  historic 
ground  on  which  this  convention  met  made  this  almost  inevi- 
table. Bunker  Hill*  and  Plymouth  Rock,  Salem  and  Con- 
cord and  Lexington,  the  old.  North  Church  and  the  Old 
South,  with  their  thrilling  Revolutionary  memories,  were  all 
accessible  to  the  Endeavorers,  who  to  the  largest  degree 
availed  themselves  of  their  privileges.  The  historic  pilgrim- 
ages undertaken  the  day  after  the  formal  convention  closed 
were  among  the  most  interesting  features  of  all,  and  the  patri- 

*  To  avoid  the  appearance  of  bombast  and  boasting  over  old-time  enemies, 
mixed  with  present-day  patriotism,  British  speakers  as  well  as  American  were 
heard  at  Bunker  Hill  and  Lexington,  and  "God  Save  the  King"  was  almost  as 
popular  as  "  My  Country,  'tis  of  Thee." 


140  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

otism  of  every  young  American  was  stirred  afresh  as  he 
looked  at  the  memorable  spots  where  his  fathers  suffered  and 
died.  Indeed,  the  Boston  papers  acknowledged  that  in  a 
isense  the  Endeavorers  had  discovered  to  Bostonians  them- 
selves their  own  historic  sights,  for  the  graves  of  Otis  and 
Adams,  and  John  Eliot,  and  John  Hancock,  and  many  other 
worthies,  were  sought  out  with  reverent  and  loving  zeal  by  a 
multitude  of  eager  young  people. 

At  Salem  the  delegates  saw  the  church  where  the  first 
American  foreign  missionaries  were  ordained,  and  fired  their 
missionary  zeal  by  sitting  on  the  very  bench  occupied  by  these 
pioneers  of  modern  missions. 

Among  the  interested  spectators  at  this  convention  was 
Dr.  Samuel  F.  Smith,  the  author  of  "America,"  and  we  may 
well  close  this  chapter  with  part  of  the  hymn,  almost  the  last 
that  came  from  his  gifted  pen,  which  he  wrote  for  the  conven- 
tion. As  the  venerable  and  revered  poet  came  forward  to 
read  it,  the  presiding  officer  suggested  that  he  be  greeted  in 
perfect  silence  with  the  Chautauqua  salute.  "It  was  a  won- 
derful white  wave,"  say  the  reporters  of  the  convention,  "that 
the  venerable  patriot  beheld,  but  the  love  and  enthusiasm  of 
the  ten  thousand  Endeavorers  gathered  in  Tent  Endeavor 
could  not  be  restrained  or  be  satisfied  with  anything  less  than  a 
rousing  "three  cheers."  Then  in  complete  stillness  he  read 
his  hymn  of  greeting,  which  was  sung  with  tremendous  effect. 
The  last  two  verses  of  this  fine  hymn  are  as  follows: 

"Onward  with  purpose  brave, 
To  seek,  to  lift,  to  save, 

For  God,  for  man. 
Not  ours  to  seek  delay, 
Nor  squander  one  brief  day, 
Not  ours  to  waste  in  play 

Life's  fleeting  span. 


The  Great  Conventions.  141 

"All  hail,  triumphant  Lord! 
Fulfil  Thy  gracious  word, 

And  take  Thy  throne. 
Like  watchmen  at  Thy  gate 
Thy  youthful  servants  wait; 
Assume  Thy  regal  state, 

And  reign  alone." 


CHAPTER  XI. 
LONDON  AND  NINGPO. 

TWO  TYPICAL  CONVENTIONS  ON  OPPOSITE  SIDES  OF 
THE  GLOBE,  EACH  OF  WHICH  WAS  EXCEEDINGLY  IN- 
FLUENTIAL IN  ITS  OWN  HEMISPHERE,  ARE  HEREIN 
SET  FORTH. 

"  London  is  boldly  summoned  this  week  to  think  about  re- 
ligion, and  to  think  of  it  as  Endeavi  .  The  challenge  is  a 
good  one,  and  this  form  of  it  is  admirable.  The  youthful 
host,  whose  white  tents  are  now  gleaming  on  the  city's  north- 
I  ern  heights,  proclaim  by  their  title  that  Christianity,  as  they 
'  apprehend  it,  is  above  all  things  a  call  to  do  something.  And 
this  is  a  statement  of  the  case  in  which  the  critics  will  find 
it  terribly  hard  to  pick  holes.  When  dealing  with  religion 
as  a  doctrine  or  as  an  institution,  the  assailant  often  enough 
has  a  task  quite  to  his  mind.  When  he  meets  it  as  the  sheer 
enthusiasm  of  goodness,  as  an  organized  energy  for  the  world's 
betterment,  there  is  simply  nothing  for  him  to  say." 

The  Christian  World,  London. 
"  It   [the  convention  in  Ningpo]   was  the  most  wonderful 
sight  ever  witnessed  in  China." 

Archdeacon  Moule,  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society. 

F  it  is  difficult  to  write  the  story  of  the  conventions 
^  when  the  delegates  are  largely  the  representatives 
of  one  continent  how  shall  we  describe  a  conven- 
tion which  opened  its  doors  east  and  west  and 
north  and  south  to  delegates  from  every  conti- 
nent, for  "London,  1900,"  was  the  first  great  World's  Con- 
vention? The  World's  Union,  to  be  sure,  had  been  formed 
in  Boston  five  years  before,  and  its  first  meeting  was  then 
held,  with  delegates  from  many  lands  present,  though  no  ef- 

142 


London  and  Ningpo.  143 

fort  to  secure  a  world-wide  representation  had  been  made  in 
advance  of  the  formation  of  the  Union. 

London,  however,  was  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  term  a 
World's  Convention,  and  its  report  fills  a  large  volume  of 
264  double-column  pages.  Even  in  this,  many  of  the  ad- 
dresses are  given  but  in  outline. 

Outside  of  Great  Britain,  America,  as  was  natural,  sent 
the  largest  contingent  to  the  convention,  though  the  awtul 
catastrophe  which  resulted  in  the  burning  of  the  Saale  and 
other  North  German  Lloyd  steamers,  on  which  most  of  the 
delegates  were  to  have  embarked,  interfered  with  the  num- 
ber of  those  who  would  otherwise  have  gone,  and  prevented 
hundreds  of  those  who  had  started  from  reaching  London  be- 
fore the  convention  was  entirely  over.  However,  it  is 
thought  that  nearly  two  thousand  American  delegates  were 
present,  and  a  hundred  from  Australasia;  and  almost  every 
other  land  was  represented  by  larger  or  smaller  delegations. 

Christian  Endeavor  work  on  the  continent  of  Europe, 
except  in  Germany,  was  then  in  its  infancy;  but  the  vigorous 
growth  in  Continental  countries  since  then  is  one  proof  of  the 
value  of  the  World's  Convention  of  1900. 

"For  the  first  time  in  its  history,"  says  the  official  report 
of  the  convention,  "the  gray  old  city  of  London  was  deco- 
rated in  honor  of  a  religious  gathering.  Flags  and  mono- 
grams in  red  and  white — the  Convention  colors — 
Decorations,  fluttered  across  Ludgate  Hill,  and  showed  cheer- 
fully against  the  grim  walls  of  Newgate,  while  in 
many  parts  of  the  metropolis,  from  the  dignified  West  to  the 
plebeian  East,  and  even  in  the  suburbs,  there  were  Christian 
Endeavor  monograms,  bright  touches  of  the  convention  col- 
ors; and  here  and  there  a  line  of  flags  stretched  across  the 
road,  all  speaking  mute  greetings  to  the  World's  Convention. 
To  delegates  from  some  less  conservative  regions  these  decora- 
tions may  have  seemed  less  impressive  than  they  did  to  Lon- 


144         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

doners  themselves,  who  were  best  able  to  appreciate  the  signifi- 
cance of  adornments  that  have  hitherto  been  reserved  for  civic 
or  royal  processions  and  rejoicings  over  the  success  of  British 
arms.     Amusing  stories  came  to  hand  of  startled    non-En- 


London  International  Christian  Endeavor  Convention. 


deavorers  who  asked,  'Has  there  been  another  victory?'     En- 
deavorers  felt  inclined  to  answer  in  the  affirmative." 

Many  were  the  greetings  and  from  many  lands.  The 
lord  mayor  of  London,  the  Bishop  of  London,  Dean  Farrar, 
beloved  of  all  Americans,  Dr.  Parker  and  Hugh  Price 
Hughes,  "Ian  Maclaren,"  Dr.  Alexander  McLaren,   Presi- 


London  and  Ningpo.  14^ 

dent  McKinley,  and  Ambassador  Joseph  H.  Choate  all  sent 
welcomes  of  the  most  cordial  description. 

The  problem  of  finding  audience-room  for  the  vast 
throng  was  solved  by  the  committee  by  securing  the  Alexan- 
dra Palace,  whose  largest  hall  was  seated  for  nearly  twenty 
thousand  persons,  while  various  smaller  audience-rooms  and 
two  large  tents  accommodated  the  lesser  meetings. 

But,  while  this  was  the  headquarters  of  the  convention, 
nearly  all  the  other  large  halls  and  churches  in  London  were 
used  at  some  time  during  the  meetings.  Thus  the  opening 
welcome  meeting  was  held  not  only  in  the  Alexandra  Palace, 
but  in  the  Royal  Albert  Hall,  which  was  packed  from  floor 
to  dome;  and  Exeter  Hall,  the  Metropolitan  Tabernacle,  the 
City  Temple,  Wesley's  Chapel,  and  many  other  famous  and 
historic  churches  and  halls  were  in  requisition. 

On  the  platforms  of  this  convention  were  heard  the  great- 
est pulpit  orators  of  three  continents.  The  names  of  some  of 
the  speakers  need  only  to  be  mentioned  to  prove  that  this 
statement  is  no  exaggeration.  Among  them  were  the  Rev. 
F.  B.  Meyer,  the  beloved  president  for  that  year  of  the  Brit- 
ish Christian  Endeavor  Union;  the  Rev.  Joseph  Parker,  D. 
D.,  Dr.  John  Clifford,  the  Bishop  of  London,  the  Rev.  R.  F. 
Horton,  D.  D.,  the  Rev.  Maltbie  D.  Babcock,  D.  D.,  Dr. 
Floyd  W.  Tomkins,  the  Rev.  George  C.  Lorimer,  D.  D.,  the 
Rev.  W.  F.  Frackleton,  the  president  of  the  Australasian 
Union — but  where  shall  I  stop  in  this  enumeration,  for  time 
and  space  would  fail  me  to  tell  of  McNeil  and  Patterson  and 
Spurgeon  and  McElveen  and  Barrett  and  Belsey  and  Hasse 
and  Hill  and  Baer  and  Wells  and  Pollock  and  Moule  and 
Home  and  Harada  and  Peloubet  and  Parr  and  Smellie  and 
Stead,  and  noble  women  not  a  few. 

But,  not  to  make  this  history  simply  a  chronicle  of  names, 
let  me  describe  one  or  two  meetings  a  little  more  in  detail. 
Perhaps  the  one  entitled  "The  Messages  of  the  Churches"  was 
10 


146         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

as  characteristic  as  any.  The  president  of  the  World's  Union 
was  asked  to  preside  over  this  meeting,  and  British 
Messages  representatives  of  the  great  denominations  were  the 
Ch  V^hes  speakers,  the  Rev.  J.  O.  Greenhough  for  the  Bap- 
tists, the  Rev.  Hugh  Price  Hughes  for  the  Metho- 
dists, the  Bishop  of  London  for  the  Church  of  England,  Dr. 
Joseph  Parker  for  the  Congregationalists,  and  Rev.  William 
Watson  for  the  Presbyterians.  Seldom  have  more  great  pul- 
pit orators  been  assembled  upon  one  platform,  and  the  audi- 
ence w^as  worthy  of  the  speakers. 

The  programme  committee  had  wisely  arranged  for  the 
Junior  rally  to  begin  in  another  hall  a  little  later,  by  way  of 
a  counter-attraction,  but  even  then  these  halls  would  not  hold 
half  of  those  who  sought  admittance,  and  Tent  Endeavor  was 
crowded  with  an  overflow  meeting  addressed  by  eminent 
speakers  from  England  and  America. 

Perhaps  I  cannot  do  better  than  to  give  a  few  sentences 
from  the  message  of  each  of  these  great  representatives  of 
the  churches. 

The  Bishop  of  London,  the  scholarly  Dr.  Creighton, 
dwelt  upon  the  spirit,  "the  temper,"  with  which  we  should 
do  our  work  as  more  important  than  the  acts  themselves. 
These  were  his  concluding  words: 

"To  go  back  to  Christ,  to  fix  our  eyes  upon  Him,  to  seek 
His  temper,  to  try  and  make  that  temper  ours — that  must 
be  the  constant  thought  of  one  who  is  striving  to  do  good 
in  His  name.  I  would  leave  with  you  that  message,  and 
that  message  only.  I  would  venture  to  put  it  in  the  simplest 
form  of  an  apothegm:  'Take  care  of  your  temper,  and  your 
energies  will  take  care  of  themselves.'  Not  by  what  you 
deny,  not  by  what  you  violently  assert,  but  by  the  spirit  and 
temper  which  you  take  with  you  into  the  small  things  of  life, 
by  the  grace  and  the  beauty,  the  humility,  the  self-sacrifice 
with  which  you  pursue  the  ordinary  current  of  your  daily 


London  and  Ningpo.  147 

life,  will  you  turn  the  hearts  of  others  to  see  not  you  and  your 
objects,  but  to  see  shining  through  you  the  earnest,  the  assur- 
ance of  a  power  which  the  world  does  not  contain. 

"  'Remember,  every  man  God  made 
Is  different,  has  some  work  to  do. 
Some  deed  to  work.     Be  undismayed: 
Though  thine  be  humble,  do  it  too.'  " 

Dr.  Joseph  Parker,  in  his  address  nominated 
jo*^eph  the  President  of  the  World's  Union  and  Dr.  C.  M. 

Address!       Sheldon   for   president   and   vice-president   of   the 
United  States*  (the  presidential  campaign  of  1900 
was  just  beginning),  and  then  went  on  to  speak  for  Congre- 
gationalism as  follows: 

"Many  a  man  comes  into  my  vestry  after  a  Thursday- 
morning  service,  and  says,  'I  am  a  High  Churchman.'  I  say, 
'So  am  I.'  No  church  in  the  world  can  be  too  high  for  me, 
if  by  'high'  is  meant  noble  ambition,  opportune  prayer,  faith, 
aspiration  after  the  throne  and  after  the  spirit  of  Christ. 

"He  may  be  succeeded  by  a  man  who  says,  'I  belong 
to  the  Low  Church.'  I  say,  'So  do  I.'  No  church  can  be 
low  enough  for  me,  if  it  means  going  out  after  that  which  is 
lost  until  it  is  found.  If  it  means  going  down  to  people  for 
the  express  purpose  of  bringing  them  up  higher,  then  the 
lower  the  better  and  the  more  Christlike. 

"Then  says  a  good  friend,  'I  am  a  Baptist  minister.'  I 
say,  'So  am  I.'  You  cannot  have  too  much  baptism.  If  you 
are  baptized  by  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire,  all  the  clouds 
of  heaven  would  be  too  few  for  such  a  baptism  as  I  desire — 
the  baptism  of  the  Spirit,  not  a  passionate  enthusiasm;  an 
utter  consecration  and  dedication  to  the  cross  of  Christ.  'I 
am  a  Methodist.'  'So  am  I' — if  by  Methodism  you  mean 
repentance  towards  God  and  faith  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 

*  One  of  the  minor  political  parties  of  the  United  States,  which  polled  a  few 
thousand  votes  at  this  election  (the  United  Christian  party)  took  Dr.  Parker's 
suggestion  seriously  and  literally,  and  promptly  acted  upon  it ;  but  Dr  Clark  and 
Dr.   Sheldon  as  promptly  declined  by  a  telegram  from  London. 


148  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

and  even  a  penny  a  week  and  a  shilling  a  quarter.     I  don't 
mind  going  in  for  the  whole  idea. 

"The  idea,  therefore,  of  selecting  me  to  represent  any 
one  denomination — to  represent  Congregationalism!  There 
is  not  an  'ism'  of  a  merely  ecclesiastical  kind  under  heaven 
that  I  would  get  myself  wet  through  for."  (It  was  an  in- 
tensely hot  day,  and  he  was  perspiring  at  every  pore.) 

"  'Endeavorers'  is  a  very  good  name,  but  how  would  you 
represent  the  opposite  and  conflicting  idea?  You  will  find 
an  answer  where  you  find  everything  that  is  good — in  the 
Bible.  We  read  there  of  endeavorers  and  also  of  devourers. 
That  is  the  antithetic  term.  You  must  belong  to  either  one 
class  or  the  other.  *  *  *  Resist  the  devil.  Your  adver- 
sary, the  devil,  goes  about  like  a  roaring  lion,  seeking  whom 
he  may  devour.  The  difference  between  the  Endeavorer  and 
the  devourer  is  that  the  devourer  takes  the  easiest  policy.  The 
devil  always  takes  an  easy  course — the  course  of  destruction. 
This  sumptuous,  if  somewhat  barbaric,  building  required  two 
years  to  have  the  roof  put  on.  I  will  undertake  under  given 
conditions  to  blow  it  to  pieces  in  five  minutes.  There  is  noth- 
ing so  easy  as  destruction.  The  Endeavorer  has  taken  the 
harder  work  of  building.  He  is  a  supporter.  Take  that  great 
Academy  in  London  just  now.  There  are  perhaps  hundreds, 
if  not  thousands,  of  beautiful  pictures  within  the  walls  of  the 
Academy.  They  took  months  to  paint,  and  would  have  taken 
many  years  if  they  had  all  been  done  by  one  man.  Give  me 
an  hour,  and  I,  with  pail  and  brush,  will  blot  out  your  Acad- 
emy, and  you  will  not  find  it  an  hour  after  you  have  left 
me  to  my  destructive  ways.  Have  nothing  to  do  with  the 
destroyer,  the  dynamitard.  Join  you  the  brave,  strong  men 
who  want  to  make  the  world  better  in  the  name  of  Jesus 
Christ." 

Here  is  a  characteristic  passage  from  the  ad- 
Hugh  dress  of  Dr.  Hugh  Price  Hughes,  who  was  a  warm 

H'^'^^hes        friend  of  Christian  Endeavor,  and  who  greatly  re- 
gretted the  departure  of  some  Methodists  in  Eng- 
land and  the  United  States  from  the  international  fellowship: 

"Perhaps  you  will  allow  me  to  give  you  Wesley's  own 


London  and  Ningpo.  149 

definition  of  Methodism,  which  is  the  best,  and,  as  I  am  the 
most  old-fashioned  Methodist  extant,  I  beg  to  refer  you  all 
to  the  original  definition.  'A  Methodist,'  says  Wesley,  'is 
one  who  arranges  his  life  according  to  the  method  laid  down 
in  the  New  Testament.'  So  that  we  are  as  good  as  the 
Baptists,  after  all.  And  as  Methodism  did  not  originate  in 
a  quarrel,  however  legitimate  (for  sometimes  you  are  obliged 
to  quarrel),  but  in  an  intense  desire  to  become  better  Chris- 
tians, all  true  Methodists  have  always  been  true  catholics. 
We  are  the  friends  of  all  and  the  enemies  of  none;  therefore 
surely  I  ought  to  be  at  home  here  to-day.  And,  in  the  words 
of  John  Wesley,  'I  desire  to  form  an  alliance,  ofifensive  and 
defensive,  with  every  true  soldier  of  Christ.'  This  is  our 
message." 

'Phe  Perhaps  the  man  most  sought  after  throughout 

^^^^Z.         the    convention    was    Rev.    Charles    M.    Sheldon, 

Sought=  .  ,      ' 

After  whose  remarkable  book  "In  His  Steps,"  of  which 

a  million  copies  had  been  sold,  seemed  to  have  been 
read  by  every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  Great  Britain,  every 
one  of  whom  w^as  anxious  to  see  the  author,  on  this,  his  first 
appearance  before  the  British  public.  Wherever  he  spoke, 
in  hall  or  church,  the  sidewalk  was  crowded  with  disap- 
pointed throngs  who  could  not  find  entrance.  His  "workers' 
conferences"  and  "pastors'  meetings,"  where  in  the  simplest 
way  he  answered  all  sorts  of  questions,  were  centres  of  intense 
interest.  The  questions  were  of  all  kinds,  from  all  sorts  and 
conditions  of  men,  and  ranged  from  the  vast  industrial  prob- 
lem, "Is  it  possible  to  reconcile  the  teaching  of  Jesus  with 
the  competition  of  business?"  to  such  personal  questions  as 
"Do  you  smoke,  Mr.  Sheldon?"  or  the  domestic  query,  "Is  it 
right  for  a  brother  to  make  his  wife  stay  at  home  to  cook  his 
Sunday  dinner?"  On  all  of  these  Mr.  Sheldon  brought  to 
bear  his  practical,  consecrated  common  sense  and  Yankee 
shrewdness. 

The  Junior  rally  was  one  long  to  be  remembered.     One 


150         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

of  the  newspapers  described  it  as  "a  daylight  fairy  tale,"  and 
the  largest  hall  in  the  Alexandra  Palace  was  crowded  to  the 
doors  in  spite  of  the  other  popular  meetings  that  were  being 
carried  on.  The  Rev.  Carey  Bonner,  who  presided  over  this 
meeting,  has  a  genius  for  controlling  Juniors,  as  has  been 
well  said.  They  were  instantly  obedient  to  his  slightest  sig- 
nal, though  the  audience  of  older  people  were  so  uncontroUa- 


The  Children's  Choir  at  the  London  International  Christian  Endeavor  Convention. 

hie  in  their  expressions  of  appreciation  that,  to  restore  quiet, 
Mr.  Bonner  had  to  exhibit  a  great  placard  on  which  was 
printed  "SILENCE!" 

The  praise  service,  the  temperance  demonstration,  the 
citizenship  meetings,  the  great  missionary  gatherings,  filling 
two  tents  and  two  great  halls,  the  national  rallies,  and  the 
mighty  evangelistic  meetings  were   all   worthy  of   extensive 


London  and  Ningpo,  151 

comment;  but  the  report  of  the  consecration-meeting  in  the 
Central  Hall  (several  others  were  conducted  in  other  halls 
at  the  same  time)  must  close  the  story  of  this  convention.  In- 
dividual societies,  even  unions,  could  not  be  represented  in 
this  vast  audience,  but  only  delegates  from  different  coun- 
tries. Even  these  must  be  brief,  but  their  responses  showed 
the  world-wide  spirit,  cosmopolitan  character,  and  the  con- 
secrated devotion  of  Christian  Endeavor  as  nothing  else 
could  do. 

^  The  delegations  arose  in  their  places,  now  a 

Wonderful    p-rcat  host  of  Americans,  or  Endeavorers  from  the 

Lonsecra=        "^  ,  ' 

tjon  ^  home  countries,  and  now  a  handful  of  Spaniards 

or  Germans,  or  a  solitary  representative  of  far-ofif 
Japan. 

Australia  began  w^ith 

.   "Blest  be  the  tie   that  binds 

Our  hearts  in  Christian  love;" 

and  Canada  followed  with 

"Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee;" 

the  young  patriots  from  the  United  States  sang 

"My  country,  'tis  of  thee, 
"Sweet  land  of  liberty;" 

while  the  delegates  from  the  West  Indies  prayed  in  song, 

"Bind  Thy  people,  Lord,  in  union 
With  the  wondrous  cord  of  love; 
Let  a  spirit  of  communion, 

Lord,  be  ours  with  theirs  above!" 

Mexico,  South  Africa,  China,  Samoa,  Japan,  Ireland,  Scot- 
land, and  England  followed  as  they  were  called  upon.  The 
Spanish  delegates  sang  a  hymn  in  their  own  language. 


152         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

Egypt  responded, 

"'The  Nile  is  rising!'  the  river  of  the  water  of  life  in 
Egypt." 

India's  delegates,  when  called  upon,  answered, 

"The  Christian  Endeavor  Society  is,  under  God,  the 
chief  hope  of  India's  salvation." 

The  Turkish  representatives  aroused  much  sympathy  be- 
cause of  the  hard  estate  of  Christians  in  that  land,  when  they 
said, 

"In  my  distress  I  called  upon  the  Lord,  and  cried  unto 
my  God." 

In  Switzerland  the  work  had  but  just  begun,  and  the  ap- 
propriate response  of  her  Endeavorers  was, 

"Vois,  Seigneur,  ma  famille  est  pauvre  en  Manasse,  et 
je  suis  le  plus  petit  dans  la  maison  de  mon  pere.  Et  I'ange 
dit,  Je  serai  avec  toi." 

"O  my  Lord,  behold,  my  family  is  poor  in  Manasseh, 
and  I  am  the  least  in  my  father's  house.  And  the  Lord  said 
unto  him,  Surely  I  will  be  with  thee."     Judg.  6:  15,  16. 

From  Germany  came  the  hearty  response: 

"The  joy  of  the  Lord  is  your  strength."     Neh.  8:  10. 
This  was  repeated,  and  then  the  delegation  sang: 

"Einer  ist's  an  dem  wir  hangen, 
Der  fiir  uns  ist  in  den  Tod  gegangen, 
Und  uns  erkauft  mit  seinem  Blut. 
Unsre  Leiber,  unsre  Herzen, 
Gehoren  Dir,  Du  Mann  der  Schmerzen,  gut. 
In  deiner  Liebe  ruht 

Nimm  uns  zum  Eigenthum, 
Bereite  Dir  zum  Ruhm 
Deine  Kinder!" 


London  and  Ningpo.  153 

"One  there  is  to  whom  we  belong, 
Who  has  gone  into  death  for  us, 

And  bought  us  with  His  blood. 
Our  bodies,  our  souls. 
Belong  to  Thee,  Thou  Man  of  Sorrows, 
In  Thy  love 
Take  us  for  a  possession. 
Thy  children." 

The  Welsh  delegates  sang,  as  only  the  Welsh  can  sing: 

"Cyniru  i  Crist!     Hyfrydaf  gri, 
Seinied  rhwng  ei  bryniau  hi, 
Nes  i'r  pentref,  tref-pob  lie 
Dderbyn  resol  rodd  y  Ne' ; 
Taener  y  newyddion  gwell, 
Rhwng  y  Dee  a  Gowan  bell, 
Nes  d'wed  plant  hofif  Walia  wen, 
'Christ  yn  Frenin  ac  yn  Ben.'  " 

"Wales  for  Christ — let  that  glad  strain 
Echo  through  her  hills  again. 
Till  each  hamlet,  town,  and  place 
Knows  of  Christ's  redeeming  grace; 
From  the  Dee  to  Gowan's  Head 
Let  the  blessed  news  be  spread. 
Till  each  child  of  Wales  shall  own 
Christ  as  King,  and  He  alone." 

And  England  closed  the  responses  at  this  glorious  soul- 
stirring  meeting  by  singing  with  the  magnificent  volume  of 
ten  thousand  voices, 

"When   I   survey  the  wondrous   cross 
On  which  the  Prince  of  glory  died, 
My  richest  gain  I  count  but  loss. 
And  pour  contempt  on  all  my  pride." 


154 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


FROM  LONDON  TO  NINGPO. 

It  is  a  far  cry  from  London  to  Ningpo;  but,  when  we 
reach  this  typical  Chinese  city  on  the  river  of  the  same  name, 
we  find  the  same  spirit,  the  same  warm  hospitality,  the  same 
blessed  fellowship,  the  same  deep  spirituality,  even,  to  a  large 
extent,  the  same  topics  discussed,  and  the  same  hymns  sung. 

"For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  Christian  work  in 
China,"  says  Christina  K.  Cameron,  an  American  Endeav- 


u^ 

^r-^-x^ 

^^ 

^n 

ImM 

tv^*-f   ' 

p 

-I^^W'-rik^^   ^"^K  ^ 

'%.- 

"^^^^^     ^" 

The  Ningpo   Convention  Committee. 

orer  who  had  the  privilege  of  enjoying  the  convention,  "mes- 
sages were  received  from  all  eighteen  provinces,  and  more 
than  a  hundred  letters  of  greeting  came  from  various  parts  of 
the  world.  The  spiritual  tone  of  the  convention  equalled,  if 
it  did  not  excel,  anything  of  my  previous  experience.  From 
the  opening  of  the  welcome  meeting  till  the  close  of  the  con- 
secration-service, four  days  later,  there  was  a  deep  sense  of 
the  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

"Those  in  the  home  land  have  no  conception  of  the  im- 
pression that  was  made  in  Ningpo,  a  heathen  city,  by  the  gath- 
ering together  for  praise  and  prayer  of  fifteen  hundred  na- 


London  and  Ningpo.  155 

tive  Christians  from  all  parts  of  this  vast  empire.  Many 
had  walked  fifty  or  sixty  miles ;  others  came  on  house-boats, 
and  still  others  in  sedan-chairs  or  wheelbarrows.  It  took 
months  for  some  of  them  to  reach  the  convention,  for  travel 
in  China  is  slow." 

The  convention  theme  was  "The  Life,  the  Work,  the  Op- 
portunity, of  Endeavorers  in  China;"  and  their  life,  their 
work,  and  their  opportunity  throughout  China  were  all  en- 
larged and  improved  by  this  remarkable  convention. 

Says  the  Rev.  J.  Martin,  the  principal  of  the  Church 
Missionary  Society  College,  of  Foochow:  "The  convention 
hall  from  a  distance  did  not  seem  at  all  an  interesting  place, 
and  had  no  artistic  beauties.  It  was  an  improvised,  rough 
building  of  corrugated  iron,  wood,  and  reeds,  erected  in  the 
playground  of  the  Presbyterian  Academy.  On  reaching  the 
hall  we  found  it  more  imposing;  and,  when  we  entered,  we 
were  struck  with  its  beauties  and  brilliancy.  The  national 
flags  of  China,  Japan,  England,  and  the  United  States  were 
in  profusion,  and  the  Christian  Endeavor  banners  from  vari- 
ous districts  of  China,  exhibiting  the  art  and  craftsmanship 
of  the  Chinese,  were  hanging  in  all  parts  of  the  hall;  and 
here  and  there  were  some  from  Japan.  Chinese  lanterns  and 
foreign  lamps  added  to  the  radiancy.  Almost  every  seat  was 
occupied,  and  there  was  a  reverent  and  devout  congregation 
of  about  two  thousand. 

"When  the  delegates  were  asked  to  stand  up,  we  saw  lit- 
tle groups  from  Japan,  America,  Honolulu,  Korea,  from 
nearly  every  province  of  China,  and  one  from  Paris.  The 
Ningpo  Christians  gave  all  a  very  hearty  welcome,  and  it  was 
inspiring  to  hear  the  delegates  replying  each  in  his  or  her  own 
tongue.  The  principal  speeches  were  delivered  in  English, 
Mandarin,  and  Ningponese." 

Some  of  the  most  eminent  missionaries  of  many  denomi- 
nations in  China  addressed  the  convention,  among  others  the 


156 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


venerable  and  venerated  Archdeacon  Moule,  and  Dr.  Arthur 
^  H.   Smith,  the  most  eminent  of  writers  on  China 

Remarkable  and  things  Chinese. 

Scene  a  i     i 

in  ^  A  remarkable  feature  of  this  convention  was 

the  presence  of  the  three  leading  Chinese  officials  of 
the  province  on  the  platform  with  their  secretaries  and  other 
followers.  These  were  the  taotai,  or  intendant  of  the  circuit; 
the  chi-fu,  or  prefect;  and  the  hsien,  the  city  magistrate.  Dr. 
Arthur  Smith  gave  an  address  at  this  session  in  Mandarin  on 
"The  Duty  of  Native  Christians  to  Their  Emperor  and 
Country."  This  was  keenly  followed,  we  are  told,  by  the 
three  mandarins,  who  each  said  a  few  words  after  Dr.  Smith 


The    Ningpo    Officials. 

was  through,  exhorting  all  to  conform  to  the  teaching  of 
Christianity.  "Do  what  your  holy  book  exhorts,  and  you  will 
not  do  wrong,"  was  one  of  the  sentences  from  the  addresses  by 
these  Chinese  officials. 

But  this  meeting  had  a  sequel,  for  on  the  last  day  of  the 
convention  these  mandarins  invited  the  foreign  missionaries 
and  guests  to  a  Chinese  feast,  the  first  time,  it  is  said,  that 


London  and  Ningpo.  157 

such  an  honor  was  ever  conferred  by  such  officials  upon  for- 
eign Christians.  Mr.  Martin's  account*  of  this  feast  is  so 
picturesque  that  I  must  quote  it  entire: 

"Each  table  was  covered  with  a  white  linen  cloth,  and 
every  guest  was  provided  with  two  ivory  chop-sticks  tipped 
with  silver,  a  silver  fork  and  spoon,  with  a  small  silver  ladle, 
a  paper  napkin,  and  a  toothpick.  The  centre  space  on  the 
tables  was  left  for  the  courses  served  up  in  basins,  one  at  a 
time.     The  menu  was: 

"*i.  Birds'-nests  soup. 

2.  Cold  duck. 

3.  Sharks'  fins. 

4.  Fish  patties. 

5.  Stewed  chicken  and  bamboo  shoots. 

6.  Meat  dumplings,  boiled  in  tea  oil. 

7.  Fish  soup,  cod  with  liver.      (A  good  way  of  tak- 

ing cod-liver  oil!) 

8.  The  Three  Genii,  meat  balls  containing  mutton, 

pork,  and  fish  with  bamboo  shoots. 

9.  Chinese  cups  of  boiling  tea,' 

"The  mandarins,  dressed  in  their  official  garb,  stood  at 
the  door  to  welcome  each  guest,  and  took  up  the  same  posi- 
tion when  we  departed. 

"Thirteen  tables  were  provided,  and  some  eighty  ladies 
and  gentlemen  partook  of  the  hospitality  of  the  mandarins. 
Dr.  Arthur  Smith  saying  grace  and  at  the  end  suitably 
voicing  the  thanks  of  the  guests. 

"From  the  luncheon-room  we  returned  to  the  hall  for 
a  consecration-meeting,  after  which  a  procession,  with  ban- 
ners, marched  down  to  the  steamer  to  see  the  many  visitors 
depart. 

"While  waiting  for  the  steamer  to  leave,  the  Christians 
on  the  bund  and  the  delegates  on  the  steamer  were  singing 
hymns,  amongst  them  being  'Onward,  Christian  Soldiers,' 
and  'God  be  with  you  till  we  meet  again.'  Thousands  of 
non-Christians  were  standing  by,  watching  and  listening,  and 

*  Contributed    to    The   Church    of  England   Christian   Endeai'ourer. 


158  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

I  am  sure  it  was  a  good  object-lesson  to  them  and  others. 
During  the  last  three  days,  we  of  different  nationalities,  of 
different  churches,  and  of  different  societies  had  been  meet- 
ing as  one  body,  united  in  one  Lord  and  Saviour,  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ." 

After  reading  such  glowing  accounts  of  the  character 
and  influence  of  this  convention  we  cannot  wonder  that  Arch- 
deacon Moule,  who  has  known  China  for  almost  half  a  cen- 
tury in  connection  with  his  great  work  for  the  Church  Mis- 
sionary Society,  should  say,  "It  was  the  most  wonderful  sight 
ever  witnessed  in  China." 


CHAPTER  XIL 

WONDERFUL  GATHERINGS  IN  AUSTRALIA 
AND  INDIA. 

HEREIN  IS  FOUND  THE  STORY  OF  TWO  MORE  REMARK- 
ABLE GATHERINGS  IN  WIDELY  SEPARATED  CONTI- 
NENTS, WHICH  TELL  OF  THE  ADAPTABILITY  OF 
CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR  TO  ALL  CLIMES. 

"  Your  body  stands  prominent  among  the  organizations  which 
strive  toward  a  realization  of  interdenominational  and  inter- 
national Christian  fellowship,  as  well  as  among  those  which 
stand   for  ideals  of  true  citizenship."  Theodore  Roosevelt. 

"  The  more  I  have  to  do  with  Christian  Endeavor,  the 
more  I  believe  in  its  great  value  to  India,  and  the  more  I  am 
ready  to  push  it."  Rev.  Robert  A.  Hume,  D.D., 

Ahmednagar,  India. 


VEN  the  briefest  account  of  Christian  Endeavor 
U  conventions  would  be  incomplete  if  no  allusion 
were  made  to  the  great  Australasian  assemblies, 
for  in  the  lands  of  the  Southern  Cross  they  have 
attained  in  some  respects  their  highest  perfection. 
To  be  sure,  the  Endeavor  constituency  is  not  there  so  large  as 
in  America  or  Great  Britain;  but  the  audiences  often  num- 
ber thousands,  and,  as  in  other  countries,  the  largest  buildings 
that  can  be  obtained  are  packed  to  their  utmost.  Seldom 
have  I  seen  such  magnificent  gatherings  of  young  people  as 
it  has  been  my  joy  to  greet  in  the  beautiful  town  halls  or  ex- 
position buildings  of  Sydney  and  Melbourne  and  Adelaide  and 
Brisbane.  Earnest,  unconventional,  highly  intelligent,  deep- 
ly spiritual  companies  of  Christian  youth  are  they,  who  are 

159 


i6o 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


laying  well  the  foundation-stones  of  the  commonwealth  of  the 
southern  seas,  the  true  Pilgrim  Fathers  and  Mothers  of  a 
great,  new  nation,  who  some  day  will  be  looked 
upon  as  are  the  pilgrims  of  Plymouth  Rock  and 
the  Puritans  of  Boston  and  Providence. 

At  one  of  these  conventions,  held  in  the  city  of 
Adelaide,  this  idea  that  the  Australian  youth  of  to-day  are  the 
architects  of  their  country's  future  was  well  illustrated  in  the 
Junior  rally  entitled  "The  Building  of  a  Commonwealth." 


The  Build= 
ing  of  a 
Common= 
wealth. 


The  Town  Hall,   Sydney,  Australia,  Where  the  Christian  Endeavor 
Convention  Was  Held. 

Before  the  great  audience  was  a  huge  model  of  Australia 
made  of  tin,  some  ten  feet  in  diameter.  The  different  states 
were  marked  ofif  according  to  their  boundaries,  Western  Aus- 
tralia, South  Australia,  Victoria,  New  South  Wales,  and 
Queensland,  with  little  Tasmania  below  and  the  Bass  Straits 
running  between.     With   songs   and   recitations   one  Junior 


Gatherings  in  Australia  and  India.  i6i 

after  another  came  forward,  and  placed  upon  the  map  a  char- 
acteristic virtue,  for  which  each  state  should  stand — 
"Strength,"  "Purity,"  "Honor,"  "Gentleness,"  etc.,  and  the 
whole  exercise  with  picturesque  force  told  these  thronging 
Juniors  how  they  must  build  these  virtues  into  their  new  com- 
monwealth. 

Of  course  many  of  the  features  of  the  Australian  conven- 
tions are  much  the  same  as  those  in  other  English-speaking 
lands,  but  sociability  and  good  fellowship  are  provided  for  as 
in  no  other  country  by  the  "tea-meetings,"  which  in  these 
Christian  Endeavor  conventions  have  passed  all  records, 
claiming  the  largest  halls  in  the  city  for  their  own,  and  often 
furnishing  refreshment  and  kindly  entertainment  for  thou- 
sands of  delegates  at  a  time. 

These  tea-meetings,  sometimes  called  "tea-fights"  or 
"bun-struggles"  by  irreverent  young  Australians,  are  as  a  rule 
most  delightful  gatherings;  but  one  that  I  remember  in  Ade- 
laide surpassed  all  records  so  far  as  my  experience  goes. 

The  town  hall  was  given  up  to  it,  and  twenty- 
A  Tea  eight  large  tables,  representing:  different  countries, 

Meeting  in  f .    ,         ^  •  j  j.^r 

Adelaide.  which  Were  assigned  to  ditrerent  societies,  were 
spread  with  tempting  viands,  beautiful  flowers,  and 
the  delicious  fruits  for  which  South  Australia  is  famous,  as 
well  as  meats  and  cakes  and  sweets  of  all  kinds,  and  the  inevita- 
ble tea. 

The  tables  were  filled  and  cleared,  and  filled  again  and 
again,  until  nearly  two  thousand  people  had  sat  down  to  a  sub- 
stantial repast.  But  the  chief  interest  of  this  meeting  lay  in  its 
cosmopolitan  significance.  It  represented  an  "international 
tea-meeting"  for  an  international  society.  India  had  its  table, 
decorated  with  the  products  of  that  vast  peninsula.  The  Chi- 
nese table  had  its  characteristic  features,  with  waiters  in  Chi- 
nese costume  serving  the  viands.  Japan  was  dainty  and  beau- 
tiful, as  Japan  always  is.  Ceylon  and  Burmah  and  Asia  Mi- 
ll 


i62  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

nor  had  their  characteristic  features.  Scotland  was  represent- 
ed there,  too,  and  Ireland,  and  England,  of  course.  The  Cape 
Colony  table  had  for  its  centre  piece  of  decoration  a  great  bank 
of  white  flowers  representing  Table  Mountain  at  Cape  Town; 
Egypt  had  a  model  of  the  Pyramids.  New  Zealand's  table 
was  decorated  with  a  Maori  house.  Spain,  France,  Germany, 
Canada,  and  Mexico  were  all  there,  and  all  unique,  character- 
istic, and  beautiful. 

Of  American  cities,  Chicago,  Boston,  and  Philadelphia 
were  specially  honored  by  having  tables  named  for  them. 
The  decorations  of  the  Philadelphia  table  were  very  quiet  and 
subdued,  mostly  of  drab,  as  becomes  a  Quaker  city,  but  withal 
very  charming  and  tasteful,  while  the  waiters,  who  looked  out 
from  under  demure  Quaker  bonnets,  were  gracious  and  comely 
to  look  upon  in  their  sober  gray.  Chicago  was  brilliant  and 
bright;  Boston,  sedate  and  intelligent,  complete  in  every  re- 
spect, except  that  I  saw  no  pot  of  baked  beans  displayed. 

The  Commonwealth  of  Australia  was  represented  by  vari- 
ous characteristic  features,  chief  of  which  were  a  little  kanga- 
roo and  an  emu  and  other  Australian  birds  and  animals,  sur- 
rounded by  a  wealth  of  Australian  flowers. 

.  The  Williston  table  had  the  place  of  honor  at  the  head  of 
the  room.  It  was  beautifully  decorated,  and  the  fair  waiters 
each  wore  a  white  sash  with  the  words  "Williston  Christian 
Endeavor"  painted  upon  it. 

Together  with  the  other  invited  guests  I  sat  at  the  Willis- 
ton table,  and  can  assure  the  original  Williston  Christian  En- 
deavorers  that  they  never  in  their  own  beautiful  church  spread 
a  more  hospitable  and  generous  board  than  that  which  was 
named  for  them  in  Adelaide. 

The  very  spirit  of  international  fellowship  and  good  will 
reigned  supreme.  How  could  it  be  otherwise?  The  genius  of 
a  world-wide  fellowship  was  represented  there;  happy  faces, 
sparkling  eyes,  and  glowing  words  of  greeting  met  us  every- 


Gatherings  in  Australia  and  India.  163 

where;  and  in  the  deeply  devout  and  religious  atmosphere 
we  had  a  little  foretaste  of  the  time  when  every  nation  and 
tribe  and  kindred  and  tongue  shall  sit  down  at  the  marriage- 
supper  of  the  Lamb. 

But  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  social  fea- 
Fervor^  tures  by  any  means  monopolized  the  attention  of 
'"   ^    ,.        Australian  Endeavorers.     In  no  part  of  the  world 

Australia.  _  ... 

are  the  meetings  more  full  of  genuine  spiritual  fer- 
vor than  in  the  great  island  continent.     The  sunrise  prayer- 


In  the  Australian  Bush. 

meetings,  the  vigorous  and  eloquent  addresses,  and  especially 
the  crowning  consecration-meetings,  which  are  nowhere  sur- 
passed, give  their  own  tone  to  these  mighty  gatherings. 

A  personal  letter  from  the  treasurer*  of  the  Australasia 

*  Mr.  J.  B.  Spencer,  of  Sydney. 


164  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

Union,  just  received  as  I  write,  tells  of  their  last  national  con- 
vention. It  w^as  held  in  Hobart,  in  Tasmania,  and  a  w^hole 
steamship  was  chartered  by  the  Endeavorers  of  the  larger 
island  to  take  the  very  considerable  journey  which  separates 
old  Van  Diemen's  Land  of  former  days  from  her  great  brother. 
The  steamer  vv^as  decorated  from  stem  to  stern,  and  in  spite  of 
rough  and  stormy  seas  the  Endeavorers  arrived  in  good  time 
in  the  beautiful  harbor  of  Hobart. 

"It  is  impossible  to  describe,"  writes  my  correspondent, 
"the  signs  of  God's  grace  which  are  manifest  in  every  meeting 
from  morning  till  night,  and  this  power  increases  day  by  day. 
I  wish  I  could  fully  describe  our  council  meeting.  It  was  a 
time  of  joy.  Every  eye  beaming  with  tearful  gladness,  and 
the  hearts  so  full,  too  full  often  for  speech.  This  was  closed 
with  a  consecration  council  meeting  in  fullest  surrender  to 
God. 

"The  closing  meeting  of  the  convention  was  most  glori- 
ous, and  many  confessed  Christ.  All  I  can  say  is,  the  Holy 
Spirit  was  manifestly  present  at  all  our  meetings.  Often 
there  have  been  brief  pauses  when  heads  have  been  bowed, 
faces  covered,  hearts  broken,  and  glad  and  peaceful  souls  look- 
ing up  in  calm  wonder." 

Such  are  the  impressions  made  upon  one  of  the  leading 
architects  of  Australia  by  the  latest  Australasian  convention. 

India's  Christian  Endeavor  conventions  are 
Convention  unique  and  in  some  respects  the  most  interesting  of 
all.  When  we  remember  the  comparatively  small 
Christian  population,  the  overwhelming  preponderance  of 
idol-worshippers,  and  the  vast  distances  that  separate  the  dif- 
ferent missions,  we  can  only  wonder  and  rejoice  that  God  is 
using  this  instrumentality  in  the  land  of  the  Brahman  in  so 
conspicuous  a  measure  for  the  display  of  the  power  of  Chris- 
tianity. 

Most  of  the  conventions,  owing  to  the  distances  and  the 


Gatherings  in  Australia  and  India.  165 

poverty  of  the  people,  must  necessarily  be  confined  to  limited 
localities,  but  they  are  none  the  less  striking  and  impressive  on 
this  account.  In  Madura  and  Bombay  and  Ahmednagar  and 
Calcutta  and  Lahore  and  Allahabad  most  helpful,  pictur- 
esque, and  remarkable  meetings  have  been  held.  The  India 
Christians  like  to  impress  the  eye  and  the  ear  as  well  as  the  in- 
tellect, and  their  conventions  are  gayest  of  the  gay  w^ith  ban- 
ners and  decorations,  and  triumphant  with  the  notes  of  the 
"cornet,  flute,  harp,  sackbut,  psaltery,  dulcimer,"  or  whatever 
the  curious-looking  and  odd-sounding  instruments  are  that  In- 
dian Christians  use.  Perhaps  the  writer  cannot  do  better  than 
to  describe  a  typical  convention  which  he  once  attended  in 
eastern  Bengal.* 

It  was  far  away  from  the  centre  of  the  population,  and 
the  delegates  were  a  somewhat  rude  and  primitive  people;  but 
the  convention  showed,  even  better  than  one  held  in  one  of  the 
great  cities  of  India  could  have  done,  the  importance  and  pow- 
er of  these  gatherings.  I  had  travelled  all  day  and  nearly  all 
night  on  the  Ganges  River  and  some  of  its  numerous  tributa- 
ries with  one  of  the  most  eminent  Baptist  missionaries,  the 
Rev.  William  Carey,  whose  field  is  the  very  same  as  that  so 
heroically  cultivated  by  his  great-grandfather,  William  Carey, 
the  First,  the  pioneer  of  modern  missions. 

Very  early  in  the  morning,  long  before  day- 
Bheei^  light,  we  reached  the  little  convention  village  of 

^  some  forty  mud  and  straw  houses  in  the  very  heart 

of  the  rice-fields  of  Bengal.  We  crawled  on  all 
fours  under  the  low  doorway  of  one  of  the  houses  belonging  to 
a  Christian  family,  for  about  half  the  inhabitants  of  the  village 
were  Christians,  and  threw  ourselves  down  on  a  heap  of  straw 
for  a  little  rest.  But  even  then  the  delegates  had  begun  to  as- 
semble, for  many  of  them  had  walked  all  night  from  their  dis- 

*  The    story   of   this    convention    is    also    found    in    the   author's   book   entitled 
"  Fellow  Travelers." 


i66         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

tant  villages  to  reach  the  town  of  Chabikharpar,  and  we  could 
hear  the  sounds  of  the  cymbals  and  the  tom-toms  and  the  sing- 
ing as  each  society  arrived.  At  daylight  we  arose  and  went  to 
the  chapel,  which  the  people  had  built  with  their  own  money 
— the  best  building  in  the  village — with  a  good  thatch  roof 
and  walls  of  wood  reaching  nearly  to  the  roof. 

The  road  to  the  chapel  was  gay  with  plantain  stalks  and 
red  Christian  Endeavor  banners,  for  each  of  the  fifty-two 
societies  represented  had  brought  at  least  one  banner,  and 
some  of  them  four  or  five — not  very  expensive  flags,  to  be 
sure,  usually  only  a  yard  of  red  calico  with  a  Scripture  verse 
in  Bengalee  characters  upon  it;  but  they  all  added  to  the  pic- 
turesqueness  of  the  scene. 

But  look!  look!  Of  all  the  extraordinary  scenes  ever  wit- 
nessed at  a  Christian  Endeavor  convention,  that  is  the  most  ex- 
traordinary! With  brass  cymbals  clanging,  and  native  drums 
beating,  and  hands  clapping,  a  society  from  a  neighboring  vil- 
lage comes  dancing  up  to  the  chapel,  with  half  a  dozen  red 
banners  streaming  before  it.  The  leader,  one  of  the  territorial 
Christian  Endeavor  organizers,  goes  before  to  lead  the  proces- 
sion, dancing  backward,  which  is  a  very  perilous  operation  on 
the  narrow,  uneven  road,  beating  time,  and  singing  a  Christian 
hymn  at  the  top  of  his  lungs. 

"Jesus,  O  Jesus,  come  into  my  heart; 

The  sight  of  Thy  beautiful  face  drives  trouble  away. 

O  Jesus,  come  into  my  heart. 
"Jesus,  O  Jesus,  come  into  my  heart; 

When  thou  comest  in,  it  is  heaven  on  earth. 

O  Jesus,  come  into  my  heart. 
"Jesus,  O  Jesus,  come  into  my  heart; 

Seeing  thee,  it  is  cool;  seeing  thee,  it  is  cool. 

O  Jesus,  come  into  my  heart." 

We  should  say,  "Jesus  warms  my  heart."  In  this  hot 
clime  He  cools  it.     But,  if  their  hearts  were  cool,  their  faces 


Gatherings  in  Australia  and  India.  167 

did  not  show  it;  for  tiie  perspiration  dripped  from  the  dancers 
as  they  reached  the  chapel. 

Within  the  chapel  the  dance  waxed  warmer  and  more 
vigorous.  Two  Endeavorers,  facing  each  other  and  flinging 
their  arms  in  the  air,  would  spring  from  side  to  side  with  mar- 
vellous agility,  but  never  losing  their  self-poise  or  "the  power" 
in  all  the  excitement.     Now  the  tune  changes,  and  they  sing, 

"The  stream  of  love  is  flowing  by. 
The  stream  of  love  is  flowing  by," 

and  by  a  wavy  motion  of  the  line  they  indicate  the  "stream  of 
love."     Again  a  change  and  they  cry  out, 


"There  are  heaps  of  love  at  the  foot  of  the  cross; 
There  are  HEAPS  of  love  at  the  foot  of  the  cross. 


M 


and  with  arms  outstretched  and  arched  over  they  show  how  it 
is  "heaped  up." 

At  last  the  song  is  over,  and  the  dancers  sink  upon  their 
mats,  squatting  upon  their  heels,  where  they  will  remain  im- 
movable for  the  next  three  hours. 

The  leader  then  goes  out,  and  dances  another  society  into 
the  chapel  in  the  same  vigorous  way,  and  then  another,  and 
another,  until  the  chapel  is  full. 

Does  any  one  object  to  this  vigorous  Terpsichorean  type 
of  religion?  I  can  only  say  that  as  actually  witnessed  I  saw 
nothing  objectionable  in  it,  though  perhaps  my  clumsy  de- 
scription may  seem  gross  and  uncouth.  There  was  no  "pro- 
miscuous mingling  of  the  sexes,"  for  all  who  danced  were  men. 
It  seemed  a  real  devotional  act;  and  I  understood  as  never  be- 
fore how  David  "danced  before  the  Lord." 

It  is  sufficient  to  say,  perhaps,  that  the  conservative  Bap- 
tist mission  of  Bengal,  the  mission  founded  by  William  Carey, 
sees  nothing  to  disapprove  in  the  service. 

After  all  were  seated,  and  the  little  chapel  was  crowded 


i68  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

full  of  squatting  figures,  packed  like  sardines  in  a  box,  the  ban- 
ners of  each  society  were  presented,  with  a  short  address  from 
the  president  of  each.  Some  of  the  inscriptions  on  the  ban- 
ners were  very  significant,  though  I  cannot  give  them  here; 
but  all  told  of  faith,  love,  and  hope.  Then  followed  addresses 
on  different  features  of  the  pledge,  for  the  Christian  Endeavor 
covenant  is  found  as  indispensable  in  Bengal  as  in  America. 
Songs  were  often  interspersed,  and  there  was  a  prayer  chain  in 
true  Christian  Endeavor  fashion,  and  many  little  seasons  of 
quiet  devotion  were  enjoyed.  Thus  passed  five  or  six  hours  of 
almost  continuous  service,  when  the  hungry  delegates  took  a 
recess  of  an  hour  in  order  to  get  something  to  eat.  But  they 
soon  reassembled  for  another  session  that  lasted  till  dark. 

There  was  not  a  little  object-teaching  by  the 
Chain  missionaries  throughout  the   convention.     For  one 

Love  exercise.  Scripture  verses  bearing  upon  "love"  were 

called  for.  They  came  thick  and  fast  from  the  au- 
dience— "God  is  love,"  "God  so  loved  the  world,"  etc.  As 
fast  as  uttered  they  were  written  in  Bengalee  characters  upon 
slips  of  colored  paper,  red,  blue,  and  green.  These  slips  were 
then  deftly  made  into  a  "chain  of  love"  with  the  help  of  a  little 
paste.  Then  a  swarthy  brother,  a  deacon  in  the  Chabikharpar 
church,  of  deep  mahogany  color,  who  was  arrayed  in  his 
"birthday  suit,"  and  little  besides  with  the  exception  of  a  gir- 
dle about  his  loins,  came  to  the  front,  and  with  all  the  dignity 
of  a  full-dress  ceremonial  he  put  the  "garland  of  love"  about 
my  neck.  Had  I  been  able  to  return  the  compliment  with  a 
Christian  Endeavor  pin,  I  could  hardly  have  fastened  it  to  him 
anywhere  without  hurting  him.  But  what  a  beautiful  sym- 
bolic lesson  my  brother  in  brown  taught  me!  His  chain  of 
love  I  cherished  for  many  a  long  day. 

Hundreds  had  come  to  the  meeting  who  could  not  get  into 
the  chapel,  or  indeed  anywhere  near  an  open  window;  so  the 
closing  service  was  held  in  a  wide  rice  field  near  by.     The 


Gatherings  in  Australia  and  India.  169 


170  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

closing  consecration-meeting  was  tender  and  solemn,  and  a 
time  of  great  spiritual  refreshment. 

The  fire  kindled  by  the  Endeavor  convention 
Persian  idea  has  spread  to  Ceylon  and  Burmah  and  Persia 
onven  ion.  ^^  ^q\\  Jj^  Persia,  though  the  Society  is  still  young, 
the  conventions  seem  to  have  the  true  Endeavor  flavor.  An 
interesting  account  comes  concerning  the  third  annual  conven- 
tion, held  in  the  village  of  Geogtapa  in  the  Urumia  plain  of 
northwestern  Persia.  "The  roll-call  and  consecration-service 
was  a  season  of  heart-searching  and  inspiration,"  says  my  cor- 
respondent, a  few  lines  from  whose  interesting  report  I  quote 
below: 

"One  society  reported  having  organized  a  society  in  both 
the  Russian  church  and  the  Roman  Catholic  church  of  their 
village.  Another  village,  which  has  societies  for  all  classes 
except  the  old  women,  is  expecting  to  organize  another  for 
their  especial  benefit. 

"One  of  the  old  white-headed  preachers  arose  in  the 
convention,  and  exclaimed  in  amazement  at  the  marvellous 
changes  that  have  been  wrought  since  his  youth.  Then,  no 
woman  would  have  thought  of  participating  in  a  public  meet- 
ing; the  young  men  were  silent  unless  called  upon  by  their 
elders;  but  now  'both  young  men  and  maidens,  old  men  and 
children,  praise  the  name  of  Jehovah,'  and  do  active  and 
efficient  service  in  the  Christian  Endeavor  society. 

"An  increase  of  several  hundred  in  membership  was  re- 
ported, and  a  sum  about  equal  to  fifty  dollars  for  the  year's 
contributions. 

"The  village  of  Geogtapa.  is  built  upon  an  ash  hill  of 
the  ancient  fire-worshippers,  and  many  relics  of  their  pot- 
tery, coins,  etc.,  have  been  found  here.  The  crown  of  the 
hill,  which  is  several  feet  above  the  streets,  is  occupied  by  the 
Syrian  cemetery,  many  hundreds  of  years  old.  On  one  side, 
where  the  earth  has  been  washed  or  dug  away,  a  section  of 
the  cemetery,  showing  the  narrow,  stone-lined  graves,  one 
above  another,  and  many  of  them  containing  skeletons,  is  ex- 
posed to  view.     A  grewsome  sight! 


Gatherings  in  Australia  and  India.  171 

"As  I  looked  upon  this  host  of  intelligent,  enthusiastic 
young  people  gathered  on  this  hill,  the  accumulation  of  cen- 
turies of  the  ever-burning  fires  of  those  ancient  inhabitants 
of  the  land,  it  seemed  to  me  that  in  Christian  Endeavor  a 
truly  heaven-kindled  flame  is  burning,  before  whose  purify- 
ing and  energizing  influence  the  dead  Christianity  and  the 
false  religions  of  this  land  must  soon  yield. 

"The  convention  closed  with  an  earnest  and  inspiring 
sermon  by  Kasha  Isaac  Yonan.  The  delegates  returned  to 
their  villages  over  roads  flooded  by  the  heavy  rains,  in  some 
places  wading  through,  or  riding  over  on  a  man's  back,  a 
not  unusual  method  of  conveyance  here.  All  returned  filled 
with  new  inspiration,  new  ideas,  and  an  earnest  desire  to  go 
forward." 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
THE  BEST  YET. 

WHEREIN  ARE  DESCRIBED  SOxME  OF  THE  MORE  RECENT 
CONVENTIONS  IN  MANY  LANDS,  WHICH  CONCLUSIVELY 
SHOW  THAT  CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR  IS  NO  "SPENT 
FORCE,"  AND  THAT  THE  EARLY  ENTHUSIASM  IS  AiAIN- 
TAINED  TO  THE  PRESENT  DAY. 

"  The  wonder  is  that  one  societj',  with  fifty  members  only, 
in  a  little  over  twenty  3'ears,  should  expand  into  more  than 
sixty-four  thousand  societies,  with  nearly  four  million  members. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  God's  blessing  is  on  the  movement." 

Sir  Harry  Raivson, 
Governor  of  Neiv  South  Wales. 

'T  was  thought  at  first  that  these  conventions  repre- 
sented but  a  temporary  phase  of  Christian  life, 
that,  as  they  blazed  up  so  suddenly,  the  fire  would 
die  down  with  equal  rapidity.  1  even  remem- 
ber one  religious  paper  some  years  ago  that  quite 
rejoiced  in  this  prospect.  The  American  convention  of  that 
year,  owing  to  its  locality,  numbered  only  some  40,000  in  at- 
tendance, whereas  the  convention  of  the  previous  year,  in  a 
more  eligible  city,  had  reached  more  than  50,000  in  attend- 
ance. This  religious  editor,  moved  by  his  unfriendliness  to 
the  general  cause,  took  this  as  a  sign  of  imminent  decay,  and 
thanked  God  devoutly  that  the  organization  was  waning,  and 
would  soon  be  heard  of  no  more.  But  his  rejoicings  were 
premature,  for  reports  from  all  over  the  world  at  the  end  of 
the  first  quarter-century  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement 
show  that  the  convention  idea  is  not  outworn.     How  could 

172 


The  Best  Yet.  173 

it  be,  when  it  stands  for  fellowship  and  devotion,  for  con- 
secration and  religious  stimulus,  and  for  a  blessed  interde- 
nominational brotherhood  which  the  Protestant  world  has 
been  so  long  trying  to  realize? 

To  be  sure,  a  great  Endeavor  convention  is  not  so  novel 
and  striking  a  thing  as  it  was  fifteen  years  ago,  because  there 
are  so  many  more  of  them.  It  may  not  attract  so  much  notice 
in  the  newspapers,  because  the  novelty  always  gets  the  largest 
"write-up."  But  in  all  essential  features  the  conventions  show 
no  signs  of  diminution  or  retrogression. 

Indeed,  so  common  is  the  advance  made  by  each  one 
upon  its  predecessors,  whether  the  convention  be  of  a  local,  a 
State,  or  a  national  character,  that  "the  best-yet  convention" 
has  become  almost  a  stock  phrase  in  Christian  Endeavor 
circles. 

In  the  twenty-fifth  year  of  Christian  Endeavor  Japan  re- 
ported the  "best-yet  convention"  in  Okayama,  and  Mexico 
held  in  the  city  of  Guadalajara  "one  of  the  best  yet,"  and 
Brazil's  national  gathering  in  Sao  Paulo  was  "the  best  yet," 
and  the  All-Europe  Convention  in  Berlin  was  surely  "the  best 
yet"  held  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  while  many  declared 
that  the  American  convention  in  Baltimore  in  not  a  few  re- 
spects was  unsurpassed  by  any  of  its  predecessors. 

One  of  the  most  significant  conventions  ever  held  was  the 
one  that  convened  in  Berlin  in  July,  1905,  the  first  conven- 
tion of  the  All-Europe  societies  held  upon  the  Con- 
AnAii  tinent,  though  the  European  Union  had  been  or- 

Conventron.  ganized  the  year  before  in  London,  where  the  first 
convention  of  the  sort  was  held  in  connection  with 
the  British  national  convention  in  1904. 

The  significance  of  this  convention  lay  in  part  in  the  con- 
trast presented  to  those  who  remembered  the  small  beginnings 
of  the  work  in  Germany.  Ten  years  before,  the  wildest  an- 
ticipations of  those  who  gathered  for  the  first  little  Christian 


174 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


Endeavor  conference  in  Berlin  could  not  have  compassed  the 
thought  of  a  great  gathering  in  the  same  city  in  but  little  more 
than  one  decade  attracting  to  the  Circus  Schumann  six  thou- 
sand persons  from  all  ranks  of  society,  including  even  a  repre- 
sentative of  the  imperial  court. 


Mexican  Endeavorers. 


The  convention  was  welcomed  by  the  highest  church  dig- 
nitary of  Berlin,  and  with  true  German  tirelessness  the  dele- 
gates made  long  sessions,  morning,  afternoon,  and  evening; 
meeting  from  eight  to  one  in  the  morning,  ready  for  another 


The  Best  Yet.  175 

long  session  in  the  afternoon  after  a  brief  hour  for  lunch,  and 
rarely  concluding  the  meetings  before  ten  o'clock  in  the  even- 
ing. There  was  no  eight-hour  day  for  these  delegates,  and 
they  desired  none.  National  rallies  of  the  representatives  of 
many  European  nations  were  held,  the  Hungarian  rally  being 
specially  well  attended. 

Dr.  Torrey,  the  American  evangelist,  was  one  of  the 
speakers  at  the  convention.  His  address  was  very  impressive, 
we  are  told,  and  then  followed  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
of  all  the  convention  sessions.  ''Pastor  Paul,  the  president  of 
the  German  union,  was  in  charge  of  the  meeting,  which  pro- 
ceeded to  prayer.  But  prayer,  once  commenced,  was  not  to 
be  restrained ;  and  for  a  full  hour  the  meeting  went  of  its  own 
accord,  prayer  following  prayer,  two  or  three  sometimes  pray- 
ing at  the  same  time,  until  almost  half  the  entire  audience 
seemed  to  be  praying  audibly,  confessing  their  sins  and  seek- 
ing fuller  blessing.  Time  and  again  the  meeting  would  swell 
up  into  song,  prayer  being  continually  renewed  as  a  verse 
closed." 

It  might  seem  from  such  an  account  that  the  meeting  was 
confused  and  disorderly,  but  we  are  told  that  no  such  impres- 
sion was  made  upon  those  who  were  present.  It  was  simply 
the  outpouring  of  full  hearts,  desirous  of  a  blessing,  an  out- 
pouring which  could  not  be  restrained.  That  the  convention- 
goers  and  their  leaders  were  as  sane  and  level-headed  as  could 
be  desired  is  shown  by  the  business  meetings  and  the  "schools 
of  methods,"  by  the  educational  features  of  the  convention, 
and  by  the  genuine  spirituality  of  the  services,  removed  in  the 
furthest  degree  from  mere  emotionalism. 

The  evening  meetings  were  held  in  the  open  air  under 
the  trees,  and  the  largest  of  all  the  gatherings,  the  conven- 
tion praise  service,  was  held  on  Sunday  afternoon  in  Circus 
Schumann,  seating  six  thousand  persons.  Says  Mr.  Stanley 
P.  Edwards:     "The  building  itself  was  greatly  impressive. 


176  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

and  the  whole  service  was  followed  closely  by  the  entire  audi- 
ence. Greetings  having  been  given,  the  representatives  of 
each  country  in  Europe  responded  in  their  own  tongue,  rais- 
ing at  the  same  time  a  banner,  representing  their  own  country, 
around  the  centre  ring  of  the  building.  The  circle  having 
been  completed,  Rev.  Horace  Dutton  on  behalf  of  the  World's 
Union  raised  a  large  banner  in  the  centre  of  the  circle,  bearing 
a  red  cross  on  a  white  background,  with  the  words  'Christ  All 
and  in  All.'  The  choir  was  composed  of  the  joint  choirs  of  the 
State  church.  Baptist  church,  Methodist  church,  and  Inde- 
pendent churches,  twelve  hundred  voices  in  all,  with  three 
hundred  trumpets  in  the  orchestra,  each  choir  taking  part  in 
the  services  separately,  and  then  all  in  concert,  strikingly  rep- 
resenting the  denominational  loyalty  and  interdenominational 
fellowship  of  Christian  Endeavor." 

To  hold  a  great  convention  where  Endeavorers 
A  Typical  are  numerous,  and  come  from  many  lands,  is  not 
Convention.  Surprising;  but  to  hold  a  "best-yet"  convention  in  a 
city  without  a  single  Endeavor  society  is  a  feat  that 
was  reserved  for  Spain  when  her  Endeavorers  invited  their 
fellows  to  assemble  in  the  city  of  Madrid  for  the  second  na- 
tional convention  in  1902.  But  the  Protestant  churches  were 
all  hospitable;  and  the  English  Baptists,  and  the  United  Pres- 
byterians, the  Spanish  Episcopalian  church,  and  the  German 
Lutheran  all  opened  their  doors  for  different  sessions  of  the 
convention,  and,  strange  to  say,  these  churches  were  always 
filled,  for  the  Endeavorers  had  come  in  considerable  num- 
bers from  all  parts  of  Spain,  desiring  to  make  an  impression 
for  their  cause  upon  the  capital.  The  native  leaders  were 
so  eloquent,  and  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Gulick,  who  largely  had  charge 
of  the  preliminary  preparations,  were  so  efficient  and  hos- 
pitable, that  the  convention  went  off  with  as  much  vigor  and 
eclat  as  if  Madrid  were  the  very  centre  of  the  movement;  and 
though,  to  be  sure,  this  second  convention  had  not  many  prede- 


The  Best  Yet. 


77 


cessors  to  compare  itself  with,  it  certainly  went  down  into 
history  as  the  "best  yet"  in  Spain,  and  I  can  testify  to  a  genuine 
spiritual  uplift  and  heart-warming  which  I  myself  expe- 
rienced as  I  met  with  my  Spanish  brethren,  though  the  war 
which  had  robbed  Spain  of  all  her  colonies  had  then  but  just 
passed  into  history. 

IN  JAPAN. 

Even  war's  alarms  seemed  to  have  little  effect  on  the  en- 
thusiasm of  convention-goers,  for  the  war-time  conventions  in 


Christian  Endeavor  in  Japan. 

Delegates  Who  Attended  the  National  Japanese  Christian  Endeavor 
Convention  at   Okayama. 

Japan  have  been  the  "best  yet."  "Simply  to  have  held  a  pub- 
lic annual  meeting,"  says  Dr.  Pettee,  "amid  the  distractions  of 
the  war  year,  when  many  similar  gatherings  were  omitted, 


178  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

would  have  been  satisfactory.  But  to  have  succeeded  in  the 
face  of  many  obstacles  in  holding  one  of  the  best  of  the  whole 
series  of  Christian  Endeavor  conventions  in  Japan  was  cer- 
tainly cause  for  profound  gratitude  and  renewed  devotion.  A 
special  collection  was  taken  up  for  sending  Christian  En- 
deavor and  other  literature  to  the  Endeavorers  who 
War  had  gone,  or  yet  may  go,  to  the  front.     It  was  de- 

Convention  cidcd  to  urgc  all  members  of  Christian  Endeavor 
societies  also  to  pray  for  the  soldiers  every  morning 
before  or  immediately  after  rising." 

The  patriotic  note  is  always  struck  at  these  conventions  in 
Japan,  and  another  feature  which  makes  them  highly  pictur- 
esque and  beautiful  is  the  display  of  handsomely  wrought  ban- 
ners from  societies  in  all  parts  of  the  empire.  In  this  respect 
Japan  far  exceeds  any  other  country,  and  many  of  her  most 
beautiful  banners  have  been  sent  to  America  after  being  first 
displayed  at  the  Japanese  conventions,  and  have  been  given 
to  the  States  which  have  distinguished  themselves  in  the  In- 
crease Campaign. 

Notable  and  characteristic  meetings  have  been  held  in 
other  European  countries,  which  space  does  not  allow  me  to 
describe. 

But  a  few  lines  must  be  given  to  the  ''best  yet"  in  Mexico, 
the  best  being  also  the  last.  A  Mexican  Endeavorer  thus  tells 
of  the  opening  session  of  the  convention  of  1905  in  Guada- 
lajara: 

"The  meetings  were  held  in  the  spacious  patio  of  the 
Adventist  Sanitarium,  over  which  had  been  stretched  a  can- 
vas roof,  making  an  ideal  auditorium,  with  seating-capacity 
for  more  than  eight  hundred  people.  It  was  thronged  to  the 
doors  at  nearly  every  meeting,  and  the  convention  was  evi- 
dently the  'best  yet'  in  every  sense  of  the  word. 

"Delegates  came  from  all  over  the  country  and  from 
every  denomination,  making  it  a  most  representative  gather- 


The  Best  Yet.  179 

ing.  One  gentleman  came  representing  the  Mexican  Pres- 
byterian congregations  in  southern  California,  having  trav- 
elled 2,203  miles  in  order  to  be  present.  Others  came  from 
the  centre  of  the  state  of  Sinaloa,  journeying  several  days 
on  horseback  before  reaching  the  railroad,  and  then  mak- 
ing a  detour  through  the  State  of  Arizona  by  way  of  El  Paso. 
Others  came  from  the  almost  equally  distant  state  of  Yucatan, 
after  journeying  by  sea  as  well  as  by  land.  The  larger  part 
of  the  delegates  present  were  from  the  populous  and  busy 
state  of  Jalisco,  of  which  Guadalajara  is  the  capital,  and 
which  is  known  by  the  name  of  the  'Pearl  of  the  Occident.' 

"Although  the  Catholic  religion  has  a  very  strong  hold 
in  this  state,  and  much  fanaticism  is  encountered,  we  being 
welcomed  with  strong  tirades,  protests,  and  vituperations  in 
their  daily  papers,  the  delegates  kept  coming  in  from  the 
congregations  in  dozens  of  towns  and  villages  where  a  vigor- 
ous forward  evangelistic  movement  is  in  progress." 

As  is  entirely  natural,  such  great  gatherings 
Aroused!'^^  naturally  stir  up  religious  animosities,  where  any  ex- 
ist, as  they  do  in  Mexico  and  Spain,  whose  first  con- 
vention, which  I  had  the  privilege  of  attending  in  Saragossa, 
was  threatened  with  all  sorts  of  dire  calamities  by  Catholic 
priests  and  Catholic  papers.  This  "latest  and  worst  propa- 
ganda of  the  Protestant  faith"  was  intolerable  in  their  view. 
But  the  bitter  editorials  and  denunciations  had  little  elTect,  ex- 
cept to  advertise  the  meetings  and  increase  the  audience, 
though  a  few  small  boys  shied  some  ineffectual  stones  at  the 
"American  pigs"  who  had  presumed  to  hold  a  meeting  in  the 
"City  of  the  Sacred  Pillar."* 

It  may  be  interesting  in  this  connection  to  notice  some 
of  the  contrasts  and  some  of  the  similarities  between  these  great 
religious  gatherings  in  the  two  chief  branches  of  the  English- 
speaking  world.  These  contrasts  and  likenesses  were  noted  by 
the  writer  at  the  close  of  one  of  the  British  national  conven- 

*  The    stone    pillar   which    the   people    of   Saragossa    believe   came   down    from 
heaven  to  furnish  a  pedestal  for  a   statue  of  the  Virgin. 


i8o  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

tions,  and  are  recorded  here  for  what  they  are  worth.  Pos- 
sibly they  will  be  of  interest  hereafter  as  cosmopolitan  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  unites  more  and  more  those  who  speak  the  same 
tongue,  reducing  their  differences  and  emphasizing  their  re- 
semblances. In  these  matters  each  side  of  the  sea  has  some- 
thing to  teach  the  other. 

Contrasts  ^^^^  American  Side.     First,  the  American  con- 

and  ventions  are  larger  than  the  British,  as  is  natural: 

Likenesses. 

for  there  is,  as  yet,  a  far  larger  Christian  Endeavor 
constituency  to  draw  upon ;  the  Americans  are  more  given  to 
travel;  and  our  railway  companies  make  larger  concessions 
in  the  way  of  cheap  railway  fares  and  special  excursions, 
Not  that  the  British  conventions  are  not  mighty  gatherings 
from  the  mere  numerical  point  of  view,  ten  thousand  people 
often  being  reached  at  a  single  session;  still,  as  is  natural  with 
our  larger  constituency,  larger  numbers  attend  our  American 
conventions. 

Second,  the  convention  city  as  such  seems  less  moved  by 
the  convention  in  Great  Britain  than  in  America.  You  see 
few  banners  and  little  bunting  except  over  the  places  of  meet- 
ing, and  we  do  not  often  see  flower  mottoes  in  the  parks, 
telling  every  spectator  that  the  society  stands  "For  Christ  and 
the  Church,"  for  "Brotherhood"  and  for  "Peace." 

Third,  the  press  pays  much  less  attention  to  a  convention 
than  at  home,  but  that  is  also  true  of  all  great  religious  gather- 
ings. The  British  papers  give  paragraphs  to  such  meetings 
where  American  papers  would  give  columns,  and  columns 
where  they  would  give  pages. 

The  British  side.  First,  the  British  audiences  are  usually 
more  enthusiastic,  or  at  least  much  more  demonstrative,  than 
American.  They  will  clap  and  cheer  their  favorite  speaker 
for  nearly  five  minutes  at  a  time  before  he  can  begin  his  ad- 
dress. They  interrupt  him  with  applause  twice  as  frequently 
as  do  American  audiences.     They  show  their  approval  with 


The  Best  Yet.  i8i 

many  a  "Hear,  hear!"  "Good!"  "True!"  and  sometimes 
"Praise  the  Lord!"  They  are  much  easier  to  arouse  to  eager 
enthusiasm,  to  provoke  to  smiles  or  tears.  They  lift  a  speaker 
up  on  the  wings  of  their  own  interest,  and  make  his  task  far 
lighter  than  before  the  average  American  audience.  The 
"Kentish  fire,"  a  steady,  rhythmical,  united  clapping  of  hands 
after  the  first  volley  of  applause,  was  one  of  the  (to  me)  novel 
features  of  "Manchester,  1902."  To  be  sure,  Christian  En- 
deavor audiences  in  America  are  the  most  enthusiastic  of  all 
American  audiences,  and  give  the  speaker  more  support  than 
any  other  on  our  side  of  the  sea,  but  even  they  might  take  a 
leaf  out  of  the  note-book  of  their  British  brothers. 

Second,  the  singing  in  British  conventions  is  better  than 
ours.  They  sing  a  better  class  of  music,  and  sing  it  with  more 
expression  and  more  vigor.  It  is  perhaps  partly  due  to  the 
fact  that  our  congregational  church  singing  ever5rwhere  is  in- 
finitely below  the  English,  and  we  do  not  get  the  every-day 
training  of  our  friends  on  the  other  side  of  the  water  in  wor- 
shipful praise. 

Third,  with  some  diffidence  I  would  say  that  the  British 
Junior  Endeavor  rallies  surpass  ours,  at  least,  our  average 
rally.  We  have  no  such  continued  "hundred-night  success" 
as  "The  Building  of  the  Bridge"  by  Mr.  Hope,  the  pontifex 
maximus  of  Christian  Endeavor,  or  his  "Globe  Exercise,"  in 
which  children  from  every  nation  come  out  of  a  huge  wooden 
globe,  arrayed  in  their  proper  costumes,  and  teach  their  les- 
son of  world-wide  fellowship. 

For  both  sides.  After  all,  the  resemblances  are  far 
greater  than  the  dififerences,  and  in  many  respects,  as  Presi- 
dent Lincoln  said  of  the  two  hats  presented  to  him  by  rival 
hatters,  they  "mutually  surpass  each  other."  On  both  sides 
of  the  water  the  speaking  is  of  an  equally  high  order. 

The  "Quiet  Hour"  sei-vices  seem  more  largely  attended 
in  America,  and  the  spiritual  tone  is  quite  as  high. 


i82  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

The  hospitality  is  equally  generous  on  both  sides  of  the 

water,  and  on  both  sides  the  delegates  "pay  their  own  scot," 

as  independent  Christian  Endeavor  delegates  have  learned  to 

do  everywhere.     The  improvised  inns  or  "hostels" 

Common  -^  ^ 

Features       in  the  Sunday-school  rooms  of  some  of  the  churches 

Enjoyed.  .  .  .  .  n    •    •   i 

are  unique  features  of  entertamment  at  British  con- 
ventions. 

The  topics  discussed  are  very  much  the  same.  Stress  is 
put  upon  International  and  Interdenominational  Fellowship, 
upon  Christian  Missions  and  Christian  Citizenship,  upon  the 
deeper  life  of  the  individual  soul,  and  upon  the  distinctive 
principles  and  practices  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society. 

On  both  sides  the  denominational  rallies  are  great,  en- 
thusiastic meetings,  showing  the  unswerving  loyalty  of  Chris- 
tian Endeavorers  to  their  own  churches. 

In  the  New  World  as  well  as  the  Old  the  committee  meet- 
ings are  bright,  instructive,  stimulating  gatherings,  which 
show  how  much  alive  the  young  people  are  down  to  their 
finger-tips. 

In  the  Old  World  as  well  as  the  New  the  conventions  are 
deeply  spiritual  gatherings,  whose  whole  trend  is  to  deepen 
the  religious  life  of  all  who  attend,  and  to  send  them  home 
more  earnest  and  consecrated  Christians  than  when  they  came. 

The  resemblances  are  far,  far  more  than  the  dififerences; 
for  the  spirit  and  purpose,  the  aim  and  method,  of  these  meet- 
ings in  every  land  are  the  same. 

The  story  of  these  conventions,  however  fragmentary, 
should  not  be  concluded  without  some  reference  to  the  inter- 
national convention  of  1905  at  Baltimore,  the  last  convention 
of  the  first  quarter-century,  for  then  was  inaugurated  the  first 
efifort  to  put  upon  a  permanent  financial  basis  the 
1905!"*^*^^'  World's  Christian  Endeavor  movement.  Hitherto 
the  advancement  of  the  Society  in  many  lands  had 
depended  largely  upon  the  precarious  earnings  of  the  United 


The  Best  Yet. 


183 


Society  in  Boston,  or  upon  the  gifts  which  could  be  raised  by 
its  president  and  treasurer  by  personal  solicitation. 

In  "Baltimore,  1905,"  however,  was  started  the  Me- 
morial Fund,  concerning  which  it  is  fitting  that  the  present 
writer  should  say  but  little,  because  of  its  personal  relations 


Baltimore   Convention    Building. 

to  him  and  the  great  honor  it  does  him;  but,  if  it  succeeds  as 
its  projectors  and  promoters  hope,  it  will  enable  the  World's 
Union  to  provide  the  little  help  that  will  be  necessary  to  es- 
tablish and  confirm  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  in 
every  continent  and  country. 

In  many  another  way  was  this  convention  memorable. 
"Never  have  I  witnessed  anything  to  compare  with  it,"  says 
a  writer  in  The  Moravian. 

"It   was    great    in    numbers,"   writes    Professor   Wells,* 

*  In    the    Christian    Endeavor    annual    of    1906. 


184  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

"crowding  the  largest  meeting-place  ever  used  for  our  conven- 
tions. It  was  great  in  enthusiasm,  rivalling  in  that  particular 
any  gathering  of  our  host  in  all  the  past.  It  was  a  young  peo- 
ple's convention,  the  delegates  being  noticeably  younger  than 
those  of  several  years  past.  It  was  great  in  its  evangelistic 
spirit,  producing  more  conversions  than  any  Christian  En- 
deavor convention  ever  held.  It  was  great  in  its  new  emphasis 
on  noble  and  uplifting  music.  It  was  great  in  its  practical 
results,  sending  the  Endeavorers  home  to  do  better  work  for 
Christ  and  the  church.  It  proved  many  things  about  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  that  its  friends  had  never  doubted,  but  that 
others  had,  among  other  things,  its  perennial  youth." 

With  this  sentence  wc  may  close  this  chapter,  for  these 
"best-yet"  conventions  in  all  parts  of  the  world  have  made  evi- 
dent this  truth,  that  the  movement  is  no  ephemeral  affair,  the 
expression  of  "the  transient  enthusiasm  of  beardless  youth,"  as 
it  used  to  be  called,  but  an  abiding  factor  in  the  life  of  the 
church,  an  organization  that  has  about  it,  as  The  Missionary 
Herald  declares,  "the  marks  of  perpetual  youth,  increasing  in 
numbers  and  in  vigor  as  it  increases  in  years." 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
CUI BONO? 

THE  EXCEEDING  VALUE  OF  THESE  GREATEST  RELIGIOUS 
CONVENTIONS  OF  MODERN  TIMES,  FROM  AN  EDUCA- 
TIONAL AND  PATRIOTIC  AND  EVANGELISTIC  POINT  OF 
VIEW,  IS  THE  THEME  OF  THIS  CHAPTER. 

"  Let  us  all  rejoice  that  this  great  idea  of  union  has  dawned 
upon  the  church  as  well  as  the  state.  Let  us  all  rejoice  that 
this  glorious  organization  of  Christian  Endeavorers,  delegated 
from  the  Protestant  organizations  of  every  Christian  land,  is 
the  blossoming  of  a  new  and  brighter  hope  for  greater  victories 
than  were  ever  won  before  by  the  soldiers  of  the  cross." 

Gen.  Robert  L.   Taylor, 

Nashville,  Term. 

|S  they  have  been  reading  these  accounts  of  multitu- 
dinous conventions,  some  of  my  readers  may  have 
been  inclined  to  ask:  "What  is  the  use  of  it  all?" 
"Do  they  really  pay,  spiritually  and  intellectual- 
ly, for  the  outlay  involved  of  time  and  money  and 
energy?" 

I  cannot  believe  that  any  one  who  has  actually  attended 
such  a  convention  seriously  asks  this  question,  but  it  may  well 
have  occurred  to  those  who  have  not  experienced  their  glow 
and  contagious  enthusiasm.  The  leaders  of  the  movement 
have  not  been  allowed  to  rest  in  the  fancied  Elysium  of  uni- 
versal approval,  for  the  critics  of  the  Society  have  not  been 
slow  to  say  on  more  than  one  occasion,  especially  in  the  early 
days:  "To  what  purpose  is  this  waste?  This  ointment 
might  have  been  sold  for  three  hundred  pence  and  given  to 
the  poor." 

185 


1 86         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

The  expenses  of  the  convention  have  more  than  once  been 
reckoned  up,  not  only  the  initial  expense  of  some  fifteen  or 
twenty  thousand  dollars  to  the  city  inviting  the  gathering,  but 
the  much  larger  sum  spent  by  the  delegates  for  car-fares,  hotel' 
Do  the  rates,  and  other  incidentals,  which  has  been  esti- 
Conventions  mated  bv  some  for  such  a  convention  as  the  one  held 

Pay  r 

in  San  Francisco  or  Boston  to  be  not  less  than  a 
million  dollars.  "Why  could  not  this  enormous  sum  be  given 
to  missions?"  it  has  been  said.  "Why  should  not  the 
Christian  Endeavorers  deny  themselves  their  journey  and  their 
fellowship,  and  give  the  sum  they  would  spend,  for  the  con- 
version of  the  world,  which  they  claim  is  the  object  of  their 
organization?" 

But  those  who  reason  in  this  way  forget  one  or  two  im- 
portant facts. 

The  money  expended  in  attending  these  conventions  is 
the  holiday  money  of  the  delegates.  They  usually  pay  their 
own  expenses,  and  instead  of  going  to  the  seashore  or  the 
mountains,  or  idling  away  their  vacation  fortnight  at  some 
summer  hotel,  they  spend  the  time  in  the  uplifting,  spiritual 
atmosphere  of  a  great  religious  convention,  where  heart  and 
mind  are  equally  stirred  to  larger  and  nobler  things.  It  is 
not  missionary  money  that  goes  into  the  railroad  or  hotel  cof- 
fers, but  the  personal  earnings  set  apart  for  the  holiday  which 
has  become  so  inevitable  a  feature  of  strenuous  modern  life. 
In  fact,  the  missionary  societies  and  kindred  good  causes  are 
great  beneficiaries  of  these  conventions;  for  the  missionary 
spirit  is  always  stirred,  much  time  and  attention  are  given  to 
the  great  theme  of  the  world's  evangelization,  and  the  dele- 
gates go  home  to  give  as  well  as  to  pray  more  than  ever  for 
these  interests. 

Dr.  Wayland  Hoyt,  in  one  of  his  most  efifective  addresses, 
speaking  of  the  value  of  Christian  Endeavor  conventions, 
compares  the  penny-wise  and  pound-foolish  objections  to  their 


Cui  Bono?  187 

expense,  in  his  own  dramatic  way,  to  the  stingy  farmer  who 
was  carrying  home  a  jug  of  molasses  slung  on  his 
SimUe*^^'*  back.  He  saw  a  pin  in  the  road,  which  his  eco- 
nomical habits  would  not  allow  him  to  pass  by; 
and  on  his  stooping  down  to  pick  it  up  the  molasses  poured 
out,  covered  his  head  and  shoulders,  and  left  his  back  hair  in 
a  terrible  condition.  He  saved  the  pin,  to  be  sure,  but — he 
lost  the  molasses. 

But  to  refer  to  the  more  positive  effects  of  these  conven- 
tions, while  they  cannot  be  formulated  or  exactly  valued  in 
dollars  and  cents,  it  is  not  difficult  to  show  their  enormous 
worth.  Their  educational  value,  for  instance,  though  in  some 
sense  a  side  issue,  can  scarcely  be  reckoned.  It  is  thought, 
for  example,  that  in  1897  some  twenty-five  thousand  young 
people  went  to  California  to  attend  the  convention  in  San 
Francisco.  Many  of  them  travelled  three  thousand  miles ;  the 
low  railroad  fares,  the  lowest  ever  granted  up  to  that  date, 
made  it  possible  for  many  to  take  the  journey  who  otherwise 
would  never  have  seen  the  Pacific  coast.  In  three  weeks  these 
twenty-five  thousand  young  men  and  women  learned  more 
of  the  geography  of  their  own  country  than  they  could  learn 
in  three  years  at  home.  Her  great  cities,  her  boundless 
prairies,  her  snow-capped  Rockies,  her  fertile  fruit  farms  of 
the  farther  coast,  all  became  realities  to  them  instead  of  the 
vague  hearsay  of  others'  lips.  Their  patriotism  was  aroused, 
their  love  of  country  stimulated;  and,  as  never  before,  when 
they  reached  San  Francisco,  and  on  their  return  home,  they 
could  sing, 

'T  love  thy  rocks  and  rills. 

Thy  woods  and  templed  hills; 

My  heart  with  rapture  thrills 
Like  that  above." 

Add  to  this  educational  and  patriotic  value  of  such  an 
excursion  the  never-to-be-forgotten  memories  of  those  days  on 


i88 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


the  way,  the  evening  prayer-service  in  each  Pullman  car, 
where  the  voice  of  praise  and  thanksgiving,  though  dulled  by 
the  rattle  of  the  train  and  the  roar  of  the  engine,  were  not  by 
any  means  silenced;  the  wayside  meetings  for  train  men  and 
platform  loafers  when  the  train  stopped  for  coal  or  water;  the 
joyous  fellowship  and  good  cheer  that  prevailed  throughout 
the  bright  days,  when  one  car-load  in  fantastic  garb  and  with 
improvised  songs  would  go  through  all  the  other  cars  of  the 


Ute    Indians    Going   lu   a   Lhri.-Lian    Endeavor   Convention 
in  Colorado. 


long  train,  carrying  sunshine  and  jollity  with  them — a  visit 
jy^^  that  must  be  repaid  by  each  of  the  other  cars  in 

Educational   rCtum. 
Value 

of  the  There  are,  too,  the  reunions  of  the  travellers  m 

onven  •**"^- jjfYej-gnt;  cars  and  different  trains,  which  take 
place  for  years  afterwards,  while  "California,  '97,"  or 
"Nashville,  '98,"  or  "Denver,  1905,"  are  recalled,  and  the 
happy  days  are  lived  over  once  more. 

When  the  convention  attracts  many  visitors  from  other 
lands,  the  educational  value  is,  of  course,  enlarged.  "Lon- 
don, 1900,"  gave  to  hundreds  of  Endeavorers  their  first  and 
only  view  of  the  long-dreamed-of  wonders  of  the  Old  World. 


Cui  Bono?  189 

It  took  them  back  to  their  ancestral  homes.  It  enormously 
widened  their  horizon;  it  weakened  the  spell  of  provincialism, 
and  gave  them  a  new  sense  of  the  glory  and  majesty  of  God 
in  His  world  on  sea  and  shore. 

But  these  advantages  are  in  a  sense  only  incidental  and 
casual.  The  conventions  would  be  well  worth  while,  a  hun- 
dred times  over,  if  only  because  of  their  religious  value,  which 
of  course  is  chiefly  to  be  considered.  They  are  the  great 
promoters  of  interdenominational  fellowship.  Nothing  like 
them  from  this  standpoint  is  held  from  year's  end  to  year's 
end.  Never  less  than  twenty  denominations  meet  together  in 
cordial  and  hearty  brotherhood  at  every  national  convention 
in  America,  while  the  world's  conventions,  doubtless,  bring 
The  together    twice     this    number    of    denominations. 

Wonderful    gyen  the  State  conventions  often  have  representa- 

rellowsnip  ^ 

of  the  tives  from  a  dozen  or  more  different  denominations, 

Conventions.        ,      ,  ,  ,  .       ^  ,     . 

and  those  who  thus  meet  m  fraternal  mtercourse, 
singing  together,  praying  together,  journeying  together, 
comparing  notes,  discussing  plans  and  ways  and  means 
for  the  advancement  and  betterment  of  their  work,  can  never 
again  look  askance  at  one  another.  The  demon  of  sectarian- 
ism, w^hich  has  so  embittered  the  church  history  of  the  past, 
receives  a  telling  blow  at  every  great  Christian  Endeavor  con- 
vention. This  dragon  is  by  no  means  dead,  but  the  St. 
Michael  of  Christian  Endeavor  has  dealt  him  in  these  con- 
ventions many  a  swinging  blow. 

At  the  conventions,  though  they  are  full  of  life  and  color, 
and  sometimes  even  of  noisy  gayety,  the  yery  highest  emo- 
tions of  the  human  soul  are  touched,  in  the  morning  "Quiet 
Hours,"  for  instance,  when  such  a  man  as  Dr.  Floyd  Tom- 
kins,  with  quiet  restraint,  but  with  intensest  earnestness,  points 
the  young  people  to  their  "Best  Friend,"  and  shows  them  the 
supreme  joy  of  personal  communion  with  Him.  The  inspir- 
ational value  of  such  an  hour  cannot  be  reckoned  in  figures  or 


190         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

told  in  words;  and  such  hours  are  frequent  at  every  great 
convention. 

In  mission  lands,  where  such  gatherings  are  more  un- 
common than  in  Christian  America,  and  where  the  joys  of 
fellowship  are  necessarily  more  restricted,  these  efifects  are 
even  more  noticeable.  One  Chinese  Christian,  we  are  told, 
who  attended  the  recent  national  convention  at  Ningpo,  from 
an  out-station  where  there  were  only  ten  Christians,  had  once 
before  enjoyed  a  gathering  of  a  hundred  believers;  but,  when 
he  came  to  this  larger  gathering,  where  he  met  with  more  than 
a  thousand  of  his  own  faith,  he  broke  down  and  wept,  for  he 
said  that  he  had  never  before  realized  that  there  were  so  many 
Christians  in  China.  Many  of  the  Chinese  delegates  went  out 
from  those  meetings  to  feel  that  they  were  part  of  a  great  army. 

Whatever  the  country  where  the  convention  is  held,  the 
patriotic  note  is  always  struck.  Even  in  China,  where  there 
is  thought  to  be  less  patriotism  than  in  any  other  country  in 
the  world.  Dr.  Arthur  H.  Smith  spoke,  as  we  saw  in  a  recent 
chapter,  on  "The  Duty  of  the  Christian  to  His  Country  and 
His  Emperor." 

At  a  recent  British  convention  held  in  the  city 

Patriotism  ....  - 

at  of  London  a  great  demonstration  m  the  mterests  of 

onven  ions.  ^  purer  patriotism  was  held  in  Hyde  Park,  where 
from  the  improvised  platform  of  large  drays  such  men  of 
national  repute  as  Dr.  John  Clifford,  Silas  Hocking,  and 
others  spoke  to  great  throngs  on  the  burning  British  questions 
of  the  day,  and  stirred  thousands  of  Endeavorers  to  a  new 
purpose  to  defend  their  country  from  the  insidious  evil  of  the 
saloon  and  the  artful  wiles  of  the  demagogue. 

It  was  in  1893,  at  the  important  convention  in  Montreal, 
the  first  international  gathering  outside  of  the  United  States, 
that  the  president  of  the  United  Society  proposed,  as  one  of 
the  advance  steps  that  Endeavorers  should  take,  the  culti- 
vation of  a  larger  and  more  intelligent  spirit  of  patriotism  and 


Cui  Bono? 


191 


Dr.   Clark's   Five    Christian    Endeavor  Journevs   in   Europe, 
Januar3'-September,   igo2. 

First  Journey  —  Boston  to  Naples,  Rome,  Florence,  Munich,  Berlin,  Copenhagen,  Stockholm, 
Orebro,  Gottenborg,  Christiania,  Trondhjem,  Gellvare,  Stockholm,  Helsingt'ors,  St.  Tetersburg, 
Warsaw,   Vienna,   Venice. 

Second  Journey  —  N'cnice  to  Prague,  \'ienna,  Budapest,  Sofia,  Samokov,  Philippopolis, 
Salonica,   Monastir,    \'enice,   Florence. 

Third  Journey  — -  Florence  to  Venice,  London,  Liverpool,  Manchester,  Burnley,  Hull,  New- 
castle,   Bath,    Cardiff,   Camborne,   Plymouth,    Paris,   Madrid,    Lisbon,    i'aris.   Lucerne. 

Fourth  Journey  —  Lucerne  to  London,  Uddington,  Edinburgh,  Glasgow,  Reikiavik,  London, 
Geneva. 

Fifth   Journey  —  Geneva,    London,    Liverpool,    Boston. 


192         christian  Endeavor  in  All  Landso 

of  good  citizenship.  This  suggestion  was  received  with  great 
applause,  and  ever  since  in  every  great  meeting,  whether  of 
State  or  of  nation,  this  has  been  made  prominent.  ''How 
shall  this  spirit  of  patriotism  be  aroused?"  was  asked. 

"By  all  joining,  as  a  society,  some  one  political  party? 
Not  unless  we  know  of  some  party  that  embraces  all  of  the 
saints  and  none  of  the  rascals,  one  that  is  always  right  and 
never  wrong.  But  whether  you  are  a  Democrat  or  a  Repub- 
lican, a  Third-Party  man  or  a  Populist,  a  Liberal  or  a  Con- 
servative, a  Blue  or  a  Grit,  it  can  be  done  by  bringing  your 
vote  and  your  influence — for  your  influence,  fair  Endeavor- 
ers,  is  often  as  powerful  as  your  brother's  vote — to  the  su- 
preme test  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  covenant. 

"You  have  promised  in  that  'to  do  whatever  He  would 
like  to  have  you  do;'  then  vote  as  He  would  like  to  have  you 
vote.  Then  you  will  not  knowingly  vote  for  a  bad  man  or  a 
bad  measure;  and,  if  need  be,  you  will  sacrifice  your  party 
rather  than  your  principles. 

"When  politicians  realize  that  men  with  principles  are 
watching  their  nominations,  they  will  not  dare  to  put  up  a 
bad  man  for  your  suffrage,  for  they  will  realize  what  so  many 
of  the  secular  papers  expressed  last  summer,  after  that  won- 
derful convention  in  New  York  City,  that  there  is  a  new 
moral  force  in  this  country  that  must  be  reckoned  with.  Go 
to  the  primaries  of  your  party,  and  take  your  Christian  En- 
deavor covenant  with  you.  Go  to  the  caucus;  get  into  your 
legislature;  stand  for  Congress  or  for  Parliament;  but,  when 
you  get  there,  for  God  and  your  church  and  your  country 
do  what  He  would  like  to  have  you  do."* 

►P^g  The  efifect  of  the  convention  on  the  delegates 

Effect  who  attend  has  been  dwelt  upon,  but  the  effect  on 

on  the  ^      ^        ' 

Convention    the  City  where  It  is  held  is  a  no  less  notable  and 

'  ^'  striking  feature  of  such  a  gathering,  and  answers 

the     '^Cui    bono?"     in  emphatic     terms.       For    once,     and 

for  perhaps  the  only  time  in  the  history  of  some  American 

*  From  the  presidential   address  of   Rev.   F.    E.   Clark   in    1893. 


Cui  Bono?  193 

cities,  religious  themes  have  been  uppermost,  and  religious 
motives  in  the  ascendancy  for  a  week  at  least.  The  sight  of 
the  thousands  of  delegates,  the  thronging  attendance  in  the 
great  halls,  the  mere  sight  of  the  thousands  who  cannot  get 
within  their  doors  and  are  clamoring  for  admission,  all  im- 
press the  city  of  the  convention  with  the  fact  that  religion  is, 
after  all,  the  greatest  concern  of  human  life. 

"Talk  about  questions  of  the  day;  there  is  but  one  ques- 
tion, and  that  is  religion,  and  it  is  best  solved  by  work  among 
the  young,"  said  Dr.  Hill  in  giving  his  impressions  of  the 
Baltimore  convention.  Seeing  the  throngs  and  the  anima- 
tion and  the  enthusiasm,  he  continues:  "You  would  suppose 
that  these  young  souls  had  come  upon  something  new,  but  you 
find  only  the  doctrines  of  grace,  the  cross,  and  youths  brought 
to  it,  and,  as  the  Salvation  Army  people  say,  'properly  saved.'  " 

When  the  convention  met  in  San  Francisco,  more  than 
one  minister  who  had  spent  years  upon  the  coast  said  to  me, 
"For  the  first  time  in  my  life  I  feel  here  that  Christian  people 
are  in  the  majority."  Every  church  was  thronged  on  Sun- 
day. Overflow  meetings,  sometimes  two  or  three  of  them, 
were  held  in  vestries  and  chapels  to  accommodate  the  people 
who  could  not  get  into  the  main  church  buildings.  Thou- 
sands sought  the  sanctuary  who  never  thought  of  going  on  or- 
dinary Sundays.  The  convention  and  the  great  themes  which 
the  convention  discussed  were  upon  every  tongue.  For  a 
whole  week  the  daily  papers  of  San  Francisco  agreed  to  leave 
out  all  details  of  murder,  suicide,  divorce,  and  revolting  crime. 
The  columns,  often  thus  occupied,  were  given  over  to  the  ad- 
dresses on  the  high  moral  and  religious  themes  discussed  in 
the  convention,  and  the  papers  for  a  week  took  on  the  appear- 
ance of  distinctively  religious  journals. 

The  evangelistic  features  of  the  conventions  are  always 
marked,  and  there  is  an  effort,  not  only  to  educate  and  inspire 
the  delegates,  but  to  carry  the  blessing  of  Christ's  salvation  to 

13 


194 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


every  part  of  the  convention  city,  reaching  the  shops  and  the 
great  factories  wherever  it  is  possible,  and  the  slums  as  well. 
Even  the  State  conventions  often  make  this  in  these  days 


^  IRELAND  =^^^ 


Christian    Endeavor   in   Ireland. 


Cui  Bono?  195 

a  great  feature  of  their  gathering,  and  what  is  often  accom- 
plished is  represented  in  a  concrete  way  by  the  story  of  a  re- 
cent Ohio  convention  held  in  the  city  of  Dayton.  Here  is 
the  interesting  story  as  told  by  an  Ohio  pastor:* 

"At  the  very  beginning  of  the  planning  for  the  conven- 
tion it  was  agreed  that  great  emphasis  should  be  put  on  evan- 
Evangeiistic  gelism,  and  that  this  should  be  a  soul-saving  con- 
Convention  vcution,  that  theory  should  be  re-enforced  by  prac- 
*"'^^'  tice,  that  the  young  people  might  not  exhaust  their 
time  talking  about  how  to  save  souls  without  going  out  to 
save  any. 

"A  committee  on  evangelistic  work  was  early  appointed, 
and  got  to  work.  The  evangelistic  work  was  to  take  three 
directions;  first,  noon  meetings  for  men  in  the  great  shops; 
second,  open-air  meetings  on  Market  Street  in  the  "red-light 
district,"  which  is  an  almost  solid  row  of  saloons,  gambling- 
houses,  and  places  of  ill  repute;  and,  third,  one  evening  of 
the  convention  was  to  be  given  entirely  to  evangelistic  work, 
with  one  great  meeting  for  men  only  and  one  great  meeting 
for  women  only.  The  results  exceeded  our  most  hopeful  ex- 
pectations. 

"A  young  minister  in  attendance  at  the  convention,  when 
asked  to  go  and  speak  in  one  of  the  noon  shop-meetings, 
hesitated  because  he  had  never  tried  such  work  before.  But 
he  went,  and  the  men  were  so  impressed  by  his  services,  and 
so  expressed  themselves,  that  he  will  go  back  to  his  own  city 
to  use  his  new-found  gift  in  the  shops.  What  a  blessing  for 
this  convention  to  set  him  to  work  where  the  gospel  is  so  much 
needed!  From  this  time  on  the  shop  men  of  Dayton  will 
know  what  Christian  Endeavor  stands  for,  and  something  of 
its  power. 

"The  open-air  meetings  on  Market  Street  were  a  revela- 
tion and  they  were  a  prophecy,  a  revelation  of  how  much  the 
worst  types  of  men  and  women  appreciate  the  chance  to  hear 
the  old  gospel  of  warning  and  love,  a  prophecy  of  what 
Dayton  Endeavorers  will  try  to  do  in  the  future  to  reach 
those  who  have  never  been  reached.  The  men  swarmed  out 
of  the  saloons  and  gambling-places  at  the  first  sounds  of  the 

*  Rev.   Frederick  N.    McMillin   in   The  Christian  Endeavor  World. 


196  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

little  portable  organ  played  by  an  Endeavorer;  and,  though 
Dr.  Work  and  the  other  speakers  told  them  in  no  uncertain 
tones  where  their  sin  would  lead  them  if  they  refused  their 
Saviour,  there  was  no  resentment,  no  scoffing;  the  men  stood 
and  listened  as  reverently  as  though  they  had  been  in  a  storied 
cathedral. 

"An  old  woman  who  had  been  through  many  hardships 
broke  down  and  cried;  men  hung  their  heads,  convicted  of 
their  sin.  What  power  save  God's  can  tell  the  good  results 
from  such  work  as  that?" 

Temperance  is  always  a  burning  theme  in  Endeavor  con- 
ventions in  English-speaking  countries,  and  sometimes  prac- 
tical temperance  measures  are  taken,  as  when  the  Endeavorers 
of  Boston,  seeing  that  one  of  the  rumsellers,  like  most  of  the 
other  shopkeepers  of  Boston,  had  hung  out  the  sign,  "Wel- 
come, Endeavorers!"  took  him  at  his  word,  went  into  the  sa- 
loon, and  held  a  prayer-meeting  before  the  bar.  He  could 
hardly  do  otherwise  than  allow  them  to  have  their  little  meet- 
ing there,  when  he  had  invited  them  so  cordially. 

Many  after-effects  of  the  conventions  could  be 
Meetings,  noted  if  Space  allowed.  Echo  meetings  are  held  all 
over  the  country,  and  indeed  all  over  the  world,  af- 
ter a  world's  convention.  Wherever  it  may  be  held,  India 
hears  of  it,  and  China,  and  Alaska ;  and  before  long  echo  meet- 
ings are  held  in  the  islands  of  the  South  Seas.  On  their  way 
from  the  convention  at  Berlin,  for  instance,  two  Spanish  En- 
deavorers* in  going  home  took  several  weeks  for  their  journey, 
and  told  the  story  of  "Berlin,  1905,"  in  San  Sebastian,  Santan- 
der,  Bilbao,  Logrono,  Pradejon,  Pamplona,  Saragossa,  and 
Valencia.  In  all  these  towns  the  delegates  received  a  most 
hearty  welcome,  and  in  some  places  members  of  the  young  peo- 
ple's and  Junior  societies  came  to  the  railway  station  to  receive 
them  and  to  express  their  joy  and  good  will.     The  meetings 

*  Don  Carlos  Araujo,  and  Don  Vincente  Mateu,  reported  in  European  Chris- 
tian Endeavour. 


Cui  Bono?  197 

were  enthusiastic,  and  the  Endeavorers  listened  with  keen  in- 
terest to  the  story  of  the  Berlin  convention. 

Many  are  the  delightful  acquaintances  made  on  these 
convention  journeys,  as  can  well  be  imagined.  Indeed,  Mr. 
W.  T.  Stead  once  declared  that  the  chief  value  of  the  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  convention  is  that  it  brings  so  many  strong 
young  men  and  fair  young  women  together,  giving  them  a 
chance  to  get  acquainted,  and  resulting  in  so  many  congenial 
and  happy  marriages.  However  this  may  be,  it  is  very  cer- 
tain that  "local  unions"  of  this  sort  are  not  uncommon,  and 
the  writer  has  never  known  one  that  turned  out  badly. 

Reunions  of  those  who  are  thus  thrown  together  on  the 
steamer  or  railroad  train  are  often  held  for  years  after  the 
journey  is  over,  and  around  the  festive  board,  as  the  anniver- 
sary returns,  year  after  year  the  delegates  who  thus  came  to 
know  each  other  gather  to  compare  notes  and  to  enjoy  the 
reminiscences  of  past  delights. 

At  the  time  of  the  World's  Convention  in  1900, 
uitonians.  on  account  of  the  burning  of  the  steamers  on  the 
very  day  before  they  were  to  sail,  a  large  company 
of  Boston  Endeavorers  chartered  at  the  last  moment  the  large 
new  freight-steamer  Ultonia,  which  was  hastily  fitted  up  for 
their  accommodation.  But  the  delay  in  sailing  and  the  slow- 
ness of  the  steamer  prevented  these  hundreds  from  reaching 
London  before  the  last  benediction  had  been  said,  and  most  of 
the  other  delegates  had  scattered  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 
However,  the  Uitonians,  as  they  call  themselves,  do  not  con- 
sider their  time  or  money  wasted.  They  had  a  ten  days'  con- 
vention of  their  own,  and  one  three  thousand  miles  long;  for  it 
extended  across  the  Atlantic,  and  year  after  year  they  have  met 
for  an  annual  banquet  to  recount  the  joys  that  they  ex- 
perienced in  1900  and  to  pledge  one  another  anew  their 
friendship  and  their  fellowship  in  service.  Occasionally, 
when  they  can  so  arrange,  the  captain  of  the  Ultonia  meets 


198         christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

with  them;  for  he  declares  that  there  was  never  so  royal  a 
ship's  company  as  that  which  sailed  with  him  to  Liverpool 
in  the  summer  of  1900. 

Dr.  Conant,  the  eminent  Baptist  minister  and  editor  of 
The  Examiner,  has  thus  summed  up  in  a  few  words  the  bene- 
fit of  these  great  conventions  in  his  summary  of  Baltimore, 
1905,  for  The  Examiner. 

"And  now  what  beneficial  result  may  be  expected  from 
this  great  gathering?  Much  every  way.  The  fires  of  en- 
thusiasm for  Christian  work  were  kindled  anew.  The  thou- 
sands who  were  there  will  go  home  to  their  little  circles 
carrying  a  fresh  inspiration  for  missions  at  home  and  abroad, 
a  new  loyalty  to  the  home  church,  a  spirit  of  deeper  conse- 
cration to  the  service  of  the  Master.  Christian  Endeavor 
stands  for  loyalty  to  Christ,  loyalty  to  the  local  church,  loy- 
alty to  world-wide  missions;  and  the  great  host  represented 
at  Baltimore  will  be  re-invigorated  by  the  reports  of  all  that 
was  seen  and  heard  in  this  great  gathering  of  1905.  A 
mighty  influence  for  good  cannot  fail  to  be  exerted  by  these 
meetings  among  the  four  millions  of  Christian  Endeavorers 
representing  nearly  every  body  of  Christian  believers  through- 
out the  world." 


CHAPTER  XV. 
YOUNG  MEN  AND  MAIDENS. 

THE  GREAT  PART  PLAYED  BY  STALWART  YOUNG  MEN 
AND  THE  NO  LESS  IMPORTANT  SHARE  OF  FAIR  YOUNG 
WOMEN  IN  THE  SOCIETY  AND  ITS  WORK,  IS  THE  IN- 
TERESTING THEME  OF  THE  FOLLOWING  PAGES. 

"  I  feel  that  this  movement  amongst  j'oung  people  is  full  of 
promise  for  the  future.  So  many  lives  consecrated  to  Christ  at 
an  early  age  must  have  a  great  effect  in  Christianizing  the 
world,  and  thus  prepare  for  the  second  coming  of  our  Lord." 

The  Marquis  of  Northampton. 

"  The  most  precious  thing  to  any  church  is  a  throb  of  life, 
a  spark  of  fire,  a  grain  of  poetry,  a  gleam  of  the  dawn.  Vision, 
enthusiasm,  courage,  power,  these  are  the  greatest  things  that 
can  come  into  any  church,  and  they  come  with  the  young." 

Rev.  W.  L.  JVatkinson,  England. 

HE  Christian  Endeavor  Society  does  not  indorse 
the  extravagant  boast  that  is  sometimes  made  for 
it  by  enthusiastic  friends  that  it  has  discovered 
the  young  people ;  but  it  is  not  perhaps  too  much 
to  say  that  it  has  sometimes  discovered  young 
people  to  themselves,  and  sometimes  to  the  church  with  which 
they  are  connected,  revealing  their  possibilities,  showing  them 
the  deepest  things  of  their  own  natures,  and  indicating  to 
themselves  and  others  capacities  for  service  and  devotion 
which  no  one  suspected. 

Our  subject  has  led  us  to  consider  the  means  used  by 
Providence,  often  without  any  human  foresight  or  planning, 
for  the  rapid  development  and  spread  of  the  Society  in  its 
early  years.     These  are  the  fundamental  principles  on  which 

199 


200 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


it  rests,  simple,  comprehensible,  adaptable  to  all;  the  printing- 
press  ;  and  the  convention,  which  have  had  their  great  share  in 
this  development.  But  the  seed  must  have  good  soil,  or  it  will 
not  germinate;  and  this  soil,  as  has  before  been  said,  is  none 
other  than  the  warm  and  fruitful  heart  of  youth.  It  may  be 
said,  indeed,  that  young  men  and  women  are  not  only  the  ma- 
terial with  which  Christian  Endeavor  has  to  work,  but  that 
they  have  been  the  chief  means  of  its  establishment  and  de- 
velopment; and  a  chapter  concerning  them  and  their  work  in 
and  for  the  Society  seems  appropriate  at  this  point. 

Abstract  principles,  however  simple  and  easy  of  applica- 
tion, are,  after  all,  but  cold  and  lifeless  things.  Printer's  ink 
means  only  so  many  black  marks  on  white  paper,  and  is  but 
slightly  effective  without  a  living  personality.  But  when 
large-hearted,  whole-souled,  vivacious  youth  take  up  a  move- 
ment; when  they  transmute  its  principles  by  some  living  al- 
chemy into  action ;  when  they  crowd  the  convention  halls  with 
their  eager  presence,  and  make  the  roof  ring  with  their  ap- 
plause for  the  right  and  their  songs  of  Christian  victory,  then 
a  movement  has  a  most  irresistible  means  of  propagation;  for 
it  has  young  life  in  it,  and  young  life  is  irresistible. 

The  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  has  been 
Men"^  notable  from  its  earliest  days  for  the  number  of 

Sodef  young  men  it  has  enrolled.     It  has  been  a  standing 

refutation  of  the  pessimistic  wail  that  the  young 
men  are  deserting  the  church  and  that  the  gospel  is  losing  its 
power  over  them. 

"The  first  society  in  Williston  Church  had  within  its 
ranks  quite  a  number  of  young  men  and  big  boys  who  were 
just  developing  into  manhood.  The  first  and  second  presi- 
dents of  the  first  society  were  not  children  by  any  means,  but 
bearded  men,  young,  to  be  sure,  in  years  and  young  in  heart, 
but  men  who  were  already  fighting  life's  battles  and  winning 
life's  bread.     From  that  day  to  this  the  Society  has  attracted 


Young  Men  and  Maidens. 


201 


Endeavorers  of  Many  Lands. 

J.   E.   Randall.  Jamaica.  A  Nestorian  l%^%Js.IeTJyi, 

fcharles  Briquet,  Geneva.  Endeavorer  Secretary    for    Italy 

An  Endeavorer  of  Vodena  ^'Te^.^r  Rev    Henr    MeArd'Aubiene, 

m  the   costume  of   the  city.  Persia.  President  French  C.   E.  Union. 


202         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

an  increasing  number  of  these  stalwarts,  and  it  has  been  a 
source  of  pleasure  and  just  pride  to  all  interested  in  the  move- 
ment to  be  able  to  point  to  the  splendid  specimens  of  young 
manhood,  which  in  almost  every  city  and  country  of  the  Unit- 
ed States  are  looked  up  to  as  the  local  leaders  of  these  youth- 
ful hosts."* 

The  paragraph  just  quoted  was  written  more  than  ten 
years  ago,  but  its  statements  may  be  made  to-day  with  greater 
emphasis  and  truth  than  then.  Young  men  have  been  com- 
ing increasingly  to  Christian  Endeavor  standards.  The  con- 
ventions have  been  conspicuous  from  the  beginning  for  the 
number  of  young  men  who  attend  them.  Many  times  the 
young  men  in  a  great  convention  audience  have  been  asked 
to  arise,  and  though  sometimes,  when  seated,  they  seem  to 
be  outnumbered  by  their  sisters,  perhaps  only  overshadowed 
by  the  picture  hats,  when  they  rise  to  their  feet,  it  seems  as  if 
fully  half  the  convention  were  standing. 

In  this  connection  I  will  quote  another  paragraph  from 
the  earlier  history,  because  with  these  doubled  years  of  ex- 
perience in  conventions  and  union  gatherings  and  local  so- 
cieties from  one  end  of  America  to  the  other,  and  in  almost 
every  foreign  land,  the  writer  can  repeat  with  renewed  empha- 
sis what  he  then  said: 

"Some  years  ago  a  distinguished  clergyman  of  the  Church 
of  England,  who  desired  to  know  more  about  the  Christian 
Endeavor  movement,  after  listening  patiently  to  an  explana- 
tion of  the  principles  and  plans  and  methods  of  the  Society, 
looked  up  into  my  face,  and  said  with  a  somewhat  super- 
cilious rising  inflection,  which  perhaps  was  simply  his  English 
way  of  expressing  dissent  from  the  principles  I  had  been  ad- 
vocating, T  suppose  that  your  society  raises  up  no  end  of 
prigs,  doesn't  it?' 

♦"World-Wide    Endeavor." 


Young  Men  and  Maidens.  203 

The  "I  was  glad  to  be  able  to  say  to  him  promptly 

Conspicuous  and  unreservedly: 

Absence  •' 

of,  "  'It  certainly  does  not  develop  the  prig  or  the 

religious  freak.  I  have  been  privileged  to  meet 
many  of  the  young  people  who  are  connected  with 
this  movement  in  almost  every  large  city  in  America.  I  can 
call  to  mind  young  men  in  Boston  and  Chicago,  in  New 
York  and  San  Francisco,  in  Baltimore  and  Denver,  in  New 
Orleans  and  Omaha,  in  Philadelphia,  in  Portland,  Me.,  and 
Porland,  Or.;  and  I  cannot  recall  among  them  all  a  single 
prig,  a  single  smug  and  self-conceited  'cad,'  as  you  would 
call  him  in  England;  but  they  are  strong,  manly,  devout, 
wide-awake  young  men;  young  men  who  are  influential  in 
public  afifairs,  in  state  and  church  alike,  and  will  be  more  so; 
young  men  whom  you  would  not  be  ashamed  to  own  as  your 
brothers.'  '! 

From  the  earliest  days  to  the  present  it  has  been  a  source 
of  delight,  and  often  of  surprise,  to  see  the  unselfish  expendi- 
ture of  time  and  money  which  these  young  leaders  have  given 
to  the  cause.  With  no  emolument  or  hope  of  personal  pre- 
ferment, with  little  honor  accruing  to  them,  except  the  honor 
of  doing  a  hard  and  self-sacrificing  task,  thousands  and  thou- 
sands of  young  men  in  every  part  of  the  world  have  been  will- 
ing to  serve  as  presidents  or  secretaries  of  societies  or  unions, 
or  as  chairmen  of  laborious  committees.  There  come  before 
me,  as  I  write,  the  names  and  faces  of  hundreds  of  these 
young  men,  among  the  brightest  and  best  in  their  community 
and  their  generation,who,  while  earning  their  own  living  in 
office  or  store,  or  in  some  exacting  profession,  have  taken  time 
out  of  business  or  professional  hours,  and  devoted  it  ungrudg- 
ingly to  the  service  of  their  Master  through  the  Christian  En- 
deavor Society,  because  in  this  way  it  seemed  to  them  to  count 
the  most  for  His  cause. 

One  of  the  ways  in  which  the  favor  of  Providence  seems 


204  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

to  have  been  bestowed  most  signally  on  the  Society  is  in  the 
character  of  the  young  men  who  have  been  called  to  places 
of  especial  responsibility  in  connection  with  the  United  So- 
ciety and  its  work.  To  them  have  been  due  its  prosperity 
and  its  influence.  Their  whole-hearted  consecration  to  the 
work,  their  business  sagacity,  their  shrewd  common  sense  and 
genuine  intellectual  ability,  have  made  the  Society  the  power 
that  it  is,  and  have  made  its  influence  felt  to  the  ends  of  the 
earth.  It  is  not  invidious,  I  think,  to  mention  the  names  of 
William  Shaw  and  John  Willis  Baer  and  Amos  R. 
vvorkers  Wells  and  Von  Ogden  Vogt  and  George  B.  Grafif 
Among  ^^^  Jq^j^  P  Cowan  and  Arthur  W.  Kelly  and 
Young  George  W.   Coleman  and  Charles  S.  Brown  and 

Men. 

John  R.  Clements,  who  in  the  United  Society  or  on 
The  Christian  Endeavor  World,  by  their  business 
acumen  or  literary  or  musical  ability,  often  throughout  a  long 
series  of  years  have  given  themselves  heart  and  soul  to  the 
advancement  of  the  cause  of  Christ  among  the  youth  of  the 
world. 

When  I  think  of  other  lands,  names  equally  prominent 
rise  to  my  mind;  for  what  would  the  Christian  Endeavor 
cause  be  in  Germany  without  Frederick  Blecher,  or  in  Swit- 
zerland without  Charles  Briquet,  or  in  Finland  without  Emil 
Saxback,  or  in  Hungary  without  Professor  Szabo,  or  in  Spain 
without  William  H.  Gulick,  or  in  Europe  generally  without 
Horace  Dutton  and  Stanley  P.  Edwards,  or  in  Great  Britain 
without  Knight  Chaplin  and  John  Pollock  and  J.  D.  La- 
mont,  or  in  Australia  without  J.  B.  Spencer  and  F.  E.  Harry 
and  George  Walton;  or  in  South  Africa  without  Polhemus 
Lyon  and— but  I  cannot  go  on  with  the  enumeration. 

I  find  it  difficult  to  restrain  my  pen  when  it  comes  to 
the  record  of  such  names.  There  would  be  literally  no  stop- 
ping, were  justice  done  to  all,  without  making  the  book  a  mere 
catalogue  and  directory  of  Christian  Endeavor.     These  names 


Young  Men  and  Maidens. 


205 


2o6  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

are  not  always  the  most  conspicuous  before  the  world  in  the 
work  of  Christian  Endeavor;  but  they  are  in  every  case  the 
names  of  men  of  young  hearts,  though  sometimes  of  gray 
beards,  of  men  who  are  thoroughly  typical  and  representative 
of  the  stalwart  and  unselfish  character  of  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  others,  who  during  the  five  and  twenty  years  past  have 
been  enlisted  in  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement. 

But  the  glory  of  the  Society  is  that  it  is  not  merely  a  young 
men's  society.  Were  it  so,  it  would  be  robbed  of  fully  half  its 
power.  It  is  a  young  people's  society.  Young  men's  or- 
ganizations have  a  vastly  important  work  to  do,  but  it  is  not 
the  work  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement;  for  its  mis- 
sion in  part  is  to  bring  the  sexes  together  in  whole- 
Each  some  activity,  in  generous  helpfulness,  each  sup- 
|yp  jg^g^jgplementing  the  other's  work,  and  together  doing 
the  what  neither  could  alone  accomplish. 

other. 

Great  as  has  been  the  number  of  young  men 
in  the  Society,  there  have  doubtless  been  enrolled 
considerably  more  young  women.  This  could  hardly  be 
otherwise,  since  in  the  majority  of  churches  the  women  out- 
number the  men  two  to  one;  and  what  shall  I  say  concerning 
the  whole-hearted  devotion  which  the  young  women  have  con- 
tributed to  the  strength  as  well  as  the  grace  and  beauty  of  the 
movement?  It  used  to  be  said  by  Miss  Willard  that  it  was 
the  duty  of  women  to  be  strong  as  well  as  attractive,  and  of 
men  to  be  attractive  as  well  as  strong.  An  organization  that 
brings  the  sexes  together  in  natural  intercourse,  that  places 
them  upon  the  same  committees,  gives  them  equal  responsi- 
bility for  the  same  meetings,  allows  them  equally  to  lead  and 
to  be  led,  and  gives  them  official  positions  regardless  of  sex, 
cannot  but  promote  and  develop  in  each  the  strength  and 
beauty  which  only  when  combined  make  the  perfect  man  or 
woman. 

These  natural  and  friendly  relations  also  make  greatly  for 


Young  Men  and  Maidens.  207 

purity  and  true  manliness  and  womanliness.  It  is  an  evil 
thing  often  for  a  boy  to  be  brought  up  among  boys  only,  or  a 
girl  among  girls  only.  In  the  ideal  family  there  should  be 
both  brothers  and  sisters.  Each  helps  the  other  to  strengthen 
the  weak  spots  or  rub  off  the  rough  corners  of  character.  In 
the  church  family  it  is  quite  as  important  that  the  boys  and 
girls  should  be  brought  together  without:  artificial  restraints, 
but  actuated  by  one  supreme  purpose  to  do  right  and  serve 
God. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  this  victory  for  modern  and 
Occidental  ideas  regarding  the  sexes  has  been  won  all  at  once. 
In  fact,  in  some  countries,  or  perhaps  it  would  be  more  fair 
to  say  in  some  portions  of  some  countries,  it  is  still  impossible 
for  the  young  men  and  young  women  to  meet  together  in  the 
normal  and  simple  relations  which  Christian  Endeavor  fos- 
ters. But  even  in  Oriental  lands,  where  the  binding  force  of 
custom  is  most  relentless,  old  ideas  are  giving  way,  and  it  is 
beginning  to  be  seen  that  naturalness,  effectiveness,  and  purity 
are  all  fostered  by  thus  bringing  together  the  sexes  in  their 
religious  work. 

At  a  recent  convention  In  Persia,  where  probably  the  tra- 
ditions in  regard  to  the  separation  of  the  sexes  have  been  most 
inveterate,  one  of  the  old  white-haired  preachers  arose  in  the 
convention  and  exclaimed,  in  amazement  at  the  marvellous 
changes  that  have  been  wrought  since  his  youth:  "Then  no 
woman  would  have  thought  of  participating;  the  young  men 
were  silent  unless  called  upon  by  their  leaders;  but  now  both 
'young  men  and  maidens,  old  men  and  children,  praise  the 
name  of  Jehovah,'  and  do  active  and  efficient  service  in  the 
Christian  Endeavor  Society." 

Still,  it  is  not  possible  fully  to  accomplish  this  in  every 
land,  and  some  excellent  Endeavor  societies  are  composed  en- 
tirely of  young  men,  and  others  entirely  of  young  women  in 
the  same  mission  station;  but  occasional  union  meetings  are 


208 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


held,  and  in  other  ways  they  are  brought  together  under  the 
supervision  of  the  missionary,  so  that  the  Christian  Endeavor 
idea  is  carried  out  even  by  these  single-sex  societies. 
Many  were  the  objections  that  were  levelled  at 
the  Society  in  its  early  days  because  of  the  loosening 
of  women's  tongues  in  the  prayer-meeting,  and  St. 
Paul's    denunciation    of    women    who    presume    to    "teach," 


St.   Paul 
and   the 
Christian 
Endeavor 
Society. 


M  ^H^^^BW%^  ^ffl^f  J  ^M 

Some   Presidents   of   Christian   Endeavor   Societies   in   Persia. 

and  do  not  ask  their  husbands  at  home  when  they 
wish  for  information,  was  often  hurled  at  the  Christian  En- 
deavor movement,  which  it  was  said  would  make  women  for- 
ward and  mannish,  and  brush  off  the  bloom  of  modesty  and 
reserve. 

No  such  dire  results,  however,  have  followed,  for  the 
most  active  of  the  young  women  are  also  the  most  modest  and 
teachable ;  for  are  they  not  all  humble  learners  in  the  school 
of  Christ?  Even  St.  Paul  is  now  almost  never  quoted  against 
the  Christian  Endeavor  movement,  for  it  has  come  to  be  seen 
very  generally  that  Paul  was  misinterpreted  when  it  was  sup- 
posed that  he  was  aiming  his  denunciations  at  the  modern 


Young  Men  and  Maidens.  209 

Christian  Endeavor  meetings,  and  that  it  is  quite  as  modest 
and  womanly  a  thing  for  a  young  lady  to  offer  a  sentence  of 
prayer,  or  to  repeat  a  verse  of  Scripture,  or  to  give  a  sincere 
word  of  testimony,  as  for  her  to  teach  in  the  Sunday-school  or 
public  school,  to  sing  in  the  choir  or  concert,  or  to  occupy  any 
one  of  the  thousand  places  which  the  Christian  women  of  the 
most  advanced  civilization  have  opened  to  her. 

No  one  has  done  more  to  place  the  position  of  women  In 
the  Christian  Endeavor  prayer-meeting  in  the  right  light  than 

Dr.  Wayland  Hoyt,who  at  one  of  the  early  conven- 
New  tions  gave  an  address  on  "The  New  Prayer-Meet- 

Meettne        i'^S'"     ^^^  words  havc  been  quoted  elsewhere,  but 

they  are  worth  repeating.  Speaking  of  that  early 
prayer-meeting  recorded  in  the  second  chapter  of  Acts,  he 
says: 

"That  old  typical  New  Testament  prayer-meeting  was 
a  prayer-meeting  which  gave  holy  speech  to  women. 

"Look  there!  What  is  that,  that  strong,  celestial,  waver- 
ing, gleaming  tongue  of  flame?  Behold  it!  It  is  on  the 
head  of  Peter!  Yes,  it  is  on  the  head  of  James!  Yes,  it  is 
on  the  head  of  Matthew!  Yes,  it  is  on  the  head  of  the  son 
of  Alphaeus!  Yes,  it  is  on  the  head  of  Mary!  Yes,  it  is  on 
the  head  of  Salome!  Yes,  it  is  on  the  head  of  Mary  Magda- 
lene!   Yes!     Yes! 

"In  all  that  company  there  is  not  a  single  head  unmitred 
with  the  celestial  fame,  as  much  on  women's  heads  as  on  the 
heads  of  men.  In  the  prayer-meeting  women  prayed  for  the 
gift,  or  they  would  not  have  received  the  gift;  and,  when  the 
gift  came,  it  came  to  woman  just  as  much  as  to  man ;  for  the 
shining,  wavering  flame  was  on  the  heads  of  all  of  them. 

"Paul  says,  'Let  the  women  keep  silence  in  the  churches.' 
Yes,  Paul  does  say  that;  and,  if  I  believed  that  Paul  meant 
what  is  understood  by  many  as  the  common  interpretation  of 
his  meaning,  I  would  submit  to  the  apostle.  I  believe  in  im- 
plicit and  accurate  submission  to  inspired  authority;  but  be- 
cause I  am  sure  that  the  usual  interpretation  of  that  Scripture 

14 


2IO         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

has  been  a  huge  misconception  and  blunder  I  declare  that  the 
new  prayer-meeting  of  Christian  Endeavor  is  in  close  accord 
with  the  old  typical  prayer-meeting  of  the  New  Testament, 
because  it  gives  to  women  holy  speech ;  for  do  you  know  what 
the  meaning  of  the  words  'keep  silence'  is? 

"Paul  says,  'Do  not  let  the  women  lall,  lall,  lall.'  Don't 
you  see  what  he  means?  That  is  the  Greek  word  lalein, 
which  means  to  chatter,  make  a  disturbance,  a  contention. 

"Paul  says,  'Never  let  a  woman  do  that'  The  men  had 
better  take  that  to  themselves  as  well.  But  Paul  does  dis- 
tinctly say,  'When  a  woman  prayeth  or  prophesieth,  let  her 
do  it  with  her  head  covered;'  that  is,  according  to  the  custom 
of  the  times,  'in  decent  fashion.' 

"Why,  a  woman  may  pray  in  the  church.  Why,  proph- 
esying is  simply  forthsaying  your  faith  in  Jesus  and  your 
love  for  Him,  and  exhorting  others  to  come  to  Him;  and 
Paul  distinctly  allows  that  women  find  tongue  for  praying 
and  for  prophesying  in  the  meetings  of  the  church. 

"Therefore  I  declare  that  the  new  prayer-meeting  of 
Christian  Endeavor  is  in  exact  accord  with  the  old  typical 
prayer-meeting  of  the  New  Testament,  because  it  does  give 
to  women,  and  insists  on  giving  to  women,  holy  speech. 
These  miserable  padlocks  on  the  gracious  lips  of  women 
ought  to  be  unlocked,  and  broken  ofif,  and  flung  away  for- 
ever." 

But,  while  all  this  is  true,  and  while  Christian  Endeavor, 
along  with  other  movements  of  the  day,  has  done  something 
to  unlock  the  chains  that  bound  the  tongues  and  the  activities 
of  women,  it  is  also  true  that  it  has  never  unsexed  either  sex, 
or  sought  to  make  them  alike  in  all  their  activities. 
D    _  There   are  some  things  that  women  will   al- 

Koom  o 

for  All  ways  do  better  than  men,  and  some  forms  of  Chris- 
Every  tiau  work  in  which  men  will  always  excel.     There 

is  room  for  them  all  in  the  infinite  variety  of  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  service.  At  the  convention  rallies 
special  meetings  are  often  held  for  men  and  for  women,  when 
truths  that  each  distinctively  need  to  hear  are  forced  home. 


Young  Men  and  Maidens.  211 

But  it  yet  remains  true  that  in  the  great  majority  of  the  meet- 
ings and  in  far  the  largest  part  of  the  service  the  men  and  the 
women  together  can  do  the  best  work.  This  was  never  put  in 
better  form  than  by  America's  most-gifted  and  best-loved 
woman,  Frances  E.  Willard,  who  at  the  Cleveland  Christian 
Endeavor  convention  of  1894  spoke  the  eloquent  words  with 
which  this  chapter  shall  be  concluded. 

"There  is  no  competition  between  men  and  women — or 
there  ought  not  to  be.  Whoever  speaks  of  competition  has 
breathed  out  a  curse  upon  the  race;  whoever  speaks  of  co- 
operation has  breathed  out  a  blessing.  If  one  eye  should  say 
to  the  other  eye,  'Let  me  do  your  seeing;'  if  one  ear  should 
say  to  the  other  ear,  'You  can  just  shut  up  shop;  I  will  look 
after  your  hearing;'  if  one  foot  should  say  to  the  other  foot, 
'I  will  outdo  you  in  a  walking-match,'  then  might  man  say 
to  woman,  or  woman  to  man,  'We  will  see  which  one  will 
get  ahead.'  But  God  was  before  us  in  the  matter;  and  in 
His  blessed  gospel — one  of  whose  splendid  object-lessons,  one 
of  whose  brightest  blossoming  flowers,  is  this  convention — 
He  has  taught  us  that  'there  is  neither  male  nor  female  in 
Christ  Jesus.' 

"The  old  English  law  said,  'Husband  and  wife  are  one, 
and  that  one  is  the  husband.'  The  modern  unwise  agitator 
says,  'Husband  and  wife  are  one,  and  that  one  is  the  wife.' 
Christian  Endeavor,  and  the  Woman's  Christian  Temper- 
ance Union,  and  the  church  of  Christ,  whose  children  we  are, 
say,  'Husband  and  wife  are  one,  and  that  one  is — husband 
and  wife.'  And  this  is  said  because  'it  is  not  good  for  man 
to  be  alone.'  I  believe  the  welcome  of  the  power  and  pres- 
ence of  women  will  be  the  touchstone  of  the  survival  of  the 
fittest  in  the  age  that  is  soon  to  dawn.  I  believe  that  the  in- 
stitution, the  custom,  the  party,  that  cannot  bear  the  clear  day- 
light of  a  good  woman's  presence  deserves  to  die  and  will 
die." 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE  JUNIOR  ARMY. 

HEREIN  IS  TOLD  THE  STORY  OF  THE  FIRST  JUNIOR  SO- 
CIETY AND  THE  PROGRESS  OF  THE  JUNIOR  MOVEMENT, 
TOGETHER  WITH  THE  FUNDAMENTAL  IDEAS  THAT 
UNDERLIE  IT. 

"  A  boy  is  valuable  now  because  he  is  a  boy,  in  addition  to 
the  possibilities  of  manhood  in  the  da3^s  to  come.  Boys  as  boys, 
and  girls  as  girls,  are  not  only  making  a  place  for  themselves, 
but  are  given  their  place  in  Christian  Endeavor.  The  boys  and 
girls  of  to-day,  the  Juniors,  are  the  flower  of  Christian  En- 
deavor and  the  trustees  of  the  future  of  the  movement." 

John  Willis  Baer. 

IN  the  afternoon  of  March  27,  1884,  at  the  close  of 
school  hours  a  certain  brick  building  in  a  certain 
Western  town  poured  its  usual  noisy  crowd  of 
^^  happy,  careless  children  into  the  streets.  And 
yet  not  quite  its  usual  crowd,  for  a  few  had  re- 
mained behind,  and  with  serious  faces  were  gathering  at  that 
moment  in  one  of  the  upper  rooms  with  their  teacher  and  the 
pastor  and  the  Sunday-school  superintendent  of  the  church  to 
which  all  but  one  of  them  belonged.  There  were  eleven 
children  present,  and  their  ages  ranged  approximately  from 
ten  to  fourteen.  After  preliminary  devotions  the  pastor  ex- 
plained to  them  why  they  had  been  asked  to  remain,  and  ended 
by  reading  the  constitution  of  an  organization  which  he  pro- 
posed to  form.  ...  It  was  indeed  hardly  expected  that 
it  would  seem  best  to  organize  at  all  that  day,  but  the  children 
seemed  fully  ready  for  it.  They  listened  with  the  most 
thoughtful  attention  to  the  explanations  given,  and  seemed  to 

212 


The  Junior  Army. 


213 


214         christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

be  deeply  impressed  with  the  responsibility  of  the  step  they 
were  taking.  But,  when  the  vote  was  taken,  and,  for  greater 
freedom  of  expression  taken  by  ballot,  every  vote  but  one 
was  for  immediate  organization,  and,  when  the  pledge  was 


Some  Junior  Endeavorers  of  Harpoot,  Turkey. 

passed  from  hand  to  hand,  every  name  but  one  was  promptly 
subscribed." 

This  is  the  story  of  the  formation  of  the  first 
Junior  society  as  given  by  the  pastor,  the  Rev.  J. 
W.  Cowan,*  and  it  is  the  very  same  story  in  all 
essential  particulars  of  humble,  inconspicuous  hu- 
man effort  directed  by  the  Spirit  of  God  which  had  been  en- 
acted some  three  years  before  in  Portland,  Me.,  when  the  first 
Endeavor  society  was  formed. 

*  In   1884  pastor  of  the  church  in  Tabor,  Iowa. 


The 
First 
Junior 
Society. 


Young  Men  and  Maidens.  215 

The  writer  has  some  hesitation  in  declaring  without 
qualification  that  this  was  absolutely  the  first  Junior  society 
of  Christian  Endeavor,  since  he  has  been  seriously  taken  to 
task  more  than  once  for  such  an  assertion  by  other  claimants 
for  this  honor.  It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  several  Junior 
societies  were  formed  about  the  same  time,  one  of  them  by 
Mrs.  Slocum,  a  pastor's  wife  in  the  same  State  of  Iowa,  and 
one  in  Berkeley,  Cal.,  by  the  Rev.  Charles  Savage.  Indeed, 
the  Junior  idea  was  wrapped  up  in  the  very  germ  of  Chris- 
tian Endeavor,  and  the  first  society  might  have  been  called  a 
Junior  society  with  almost  as  much  propriety  as  a  Young  Peo- 
ple's society,  for  it  had  within  its  membership  many  boys  and 
girls,  who  were  at  once  set  at  work  as  vigorously  and  effi- 
ciently as  their  elders: 

Indeed,  if  the  whole  truth  should  be  told,  it  should  be 
said  that  the  first  Junior  society  preceded  the  first  Young  Peo- 
ple's society,  and  that  its  originator  was  the  good  lady  to  whom 
I,  at  least,  owe  more  for  Christian  Endeavor  suggestions  and 
encouragement  than  to  any  other  one.  For  before  the  second 
day  of  February,  1881,  there  had  been  formed  in  Williston 
Church  a  "Mizpah  Circle"  of  boys  and  girls,  whose  chief  ob- 
ject, to  be  sure,  was  to  work  for  missions,  but  who  did  much 
besides  for  their  own  church  as  a  handsome  stained-glass  win- 
dow in  the  Williston  Church  testifies  to  this  day.  These  same 
^.    ^  .  .      boys  and  girls  had  also  been  brought  together  in  a 

The  Origin  ,       ,  fe  & 

of  the  pastor  s  class  with  a  pledge  which  reads  m  the  same 

pVedge.         "^^y  i"  which  the  pledge  of  almost  every  Junior 
society  begins  to-day. 

"Trusting  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  for  strength,  I  prom- 
ise Him  that  I  will  strive  to  do  whatever  He  would  like  to 
have  me  do,  that  I  will  pray  and  read  the  Bible  every  day, 
and  that,  just  so  far  as  I  know  how,  I  will  endeavor  to  lead 
a  Christian  life." 

In  these  classes  children  who  had  already,  as  they  hoped, 
given  their  hearts  to  God,  were  fitted  for  church-member- 


2i6  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

ship ;  and,  when  the  first  Endeavor  society  was  formed,  they 
were  all  ready,  by  reason  of  this  instruction  in  the  pastor's 
class  and  practical  training  in  th^  Mizpah  Circle,  to  enter 
actively  upon  their  distinctive  duties  as  Christian  En- 
deavorers. 

At  that  time  it  was  felt  that  they  could  be  trained  with 
equal  effectiveness  in  the  same  society  with  their  older  brothers 
and  sisters.  But,  as  that  society  and  others  grew  larger,  it 
was  found  that  the  boys  and  girls  were  overshadowed  by  the 
more  experienced  workers,  and  that  in  the  general  society  they 
did  not  get  the  training  that  they  should  receive. 

Thus  the  credit  for  the  formation  of  the  first  distinctively 
Junior  society  that  survived  the  perils  of  infancy,  to  the  best 
of  my  knowledge  and  belief,  falls  to  the  modest  Iowa  pastor 
whose  simple  story  I  have  already  quoted,  and  who  has  never 
claimed  any  special  honor  for  himself. 

The  spread  of  the  Junior  Society  has  been  scarcely  less 
remarkable  than  that  of  the  Young  People's  Society,  and  the 
reason  is  the  very  same.  It  had  life  in  it.  Many  an  organiza- 
tion for  children  has  been  started  under  apparently  more  fa- 
vorable auspices.  Other  features  of  the  Christian  Endeavor 
movement  itself  have  been  proposed  with  much  more  appar- 
ent promise  of  success,  but  they  have  failed,  because  in  some 
way  they  did  not  meet  the  need  of  the  times,  because  they  had 
not  that  marvellous  something,  often  indefinable,  which  bi- 
ologists would  call,  perhaps,  adaptation  to  their  environment. 
They  were  not  quite  fitted  to  the  life  of  the  day. 

About  the  same  time  a  titled  Christian  lady  of  lofty  lin- 
eage, whose  name  ranks  with  the  highest,  started  an  organiza- 
tion on  somewhat  similar  lines.  It  had  apparently  much 
more  chance  of  success  than  that  of  the  quiet  Iowa  pastor,  for 
her  name  and  that  of  her  gifted  and  noble  husband  were  be- 
hind the  movement,  and  she  had  the  wealth  and  opportunity 
to  travel  in  many  lands  to  tell  of  the  society.     But  for  some 


The  Junior  Army. 


217 


reason,  though  a  very  admirable  children's  organization  it 
has  never  accomplished  what  the  Iowa  idea  has  done;  and 
some  of  the  societies  she  has  formed  have  been  merged  into 
the  Junior  Endeavor  movement. 

There  is  only  one  way  to  account  for  the  twenty  thousand 


Chinese   Christian  Endeavor  Juniors,  Foochow,  China. 


times  multiplication  of  that  first  Junior  society.     God  had  a 
use  for  it,  and  it  was  adapted  to  the  needs  of  the  children. 

Before  we  leave  the  society  of  Tabor  it  is  interesting  to 
record  that  Raymond  C.  Brooks,  the  first  signer  of  this  first 
The  Junior  society,  and  the  son  of  the  president  of  Tabor 

f"'*"^.*  College,  graduated  with  honor  from  Yale  Divinity 

Junior  &    ?  fc) 

Endeavors.    School,  and  has  become  an  honored  pastor  on  the 
Pacific  coast,  while  all  the  living  members  of  that  first  little 


2i8  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

band  of  ten,  when  last  heard  from,  were  doing  honest,  faithful 
Christian  work. 

At  the  Twelfth  International  Convention,  Mr.  Brooks, 
then  a  theological  student,  responded  to  the  address  of  wel- 
come at  the  Junior  rally.  His  words  were  appropriate,  and 
were  heard  with  great  interest,  especially  as  he  predicted  in 
the  following  sentences  what  has  become  more  and  more  true 
of  the  Junior  Society  from  that  day  to  this. 

"Within  the  Junior  Society  to-day  are  the  future  presi- 
dents and  statesmen,  the  earnest  preachers  of  the  gospel  mes- 


Some  Spanish  Christian  Endeavor  Juniors. 

sage,  the  consecrated  missionaries  of  the  cross,  and  those 
who  shall  make  the  homes  that  shall  determine  in  great 
measure  the  character  of  the  next  generation. 

"Within  this  company  you  have  welcomed  to-day  are 


The  Junior  Army  219 

those  who  represent  in  good  measure  the  best  of  the  manhood 
and  womanhood  of  the  next  generation.  Some  will  follow 
the  cross  of  Christ  into  the  utmost  parts  of  the  earth,  and  will 
live  themselves  the  Christlike  life  before  those  who  have  not 
heard  of  Christ.  Many  more,  it  may  be,  will  tell  the  story 
of  Jesus,  the  Saviour  of  men,  once  again  to  those  who  are 
perishing  in  our  own  land.  But  perhaps  the  greatest  com- 
pany of  us,  unnoticed  by  the  world,  in  the  humblest  stations 
to  which  God  may  call  us,  will  live  that  life  of  earnest  con- 
secration and  true  Christian  Endeavor  which  alone  can  pre- 
pare us  for  the  greater  privilege,  the  larger  responsibilities, 
which  God  will  call  us  to  by  and  by. 

"Let  that  inspired  and  inspiring  faith  in  God,  and  that 
consecrated  courage  which,  we  have  learned  in  this  conven- 
tion, is  so  characteristic  of  the  young  life  never  forsake  us." 

^.  But  little  need  be  said  in  this  connection  about 

1  he 

Progress  the  progress  of  the  Junior  movement.  It  has  kept 
Junior  pace  with  the  growth  of  the  older  society,  and  in 

Movement.  ^^^^  places,  indeed,  has  outstripped  it.  Junior 
contingents  are  found  to-day  in  almost  every  country  where 
there  are  older  Endeavorers.  Indeed,  the  Junior  society  often 
paves  the  way  for  the  young  people's  organization;  and,  as 
the  Juniors  grow  older,  they  naturally  graduate  into  the  young 
people's  society,  and  make  the  very  best  Christian  Endeavor- 
ers. A  modern  church  is  scarcely  felt  to  be  well  equipped 
to-day  that  has  not  a  Junior  society,  or  something  correspond- 
ing to  it,  for  the  training  of  the  boys  and  girls. 

At  the  convention  in  Baltimore,  in  1905,  an  Interna- 
tional Junior  and  Intermediate  Union  was  formed,  with  the 
Rev.  George  F.  Kenngott,  of  Lowell,  Mass.,  for  president,  and 
Miss  Kate  H.  Haus,  of  St.  Louis,  another  eminent  Junior 
worker,  for  secretary.  This  Union  will,  doubtless,  largely 
promote  the  growth  and  discipline  of  the  Junior  army.  The 
Mothers'  Societies  may  be  made  a  great  and  increasing  power 
for  good  in  connection  with  the  Junior  Societies.     The  writer 


220         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

hopes  to  live  to  see  this  branch  of  the  society  greatly  enlarged, 
and  the  Junior  movement  vastly  strengthened  thereby. 

The  Junior  rallies  at  the  great  conventions  in  England  and 
America  and  Australia  are  often  the  most  intensely  interest- 
ing of  all  the  meetings,  and  attract  the  largest  throngs;  for  the 
Junior  movement  has  not  only  won  the  children,  but  has  been 
equally  efifective  in  interesting  the  parents  and  in  training  a 
great  host  of  superintendents,  tens  of  thousands  of  them,  who 
in  all  parts  of  the  world  are  learning  Christian  truth  and 
developing  Christian  character  in  that  best  of  all  schools,  the 
teacher's  school.  For  there  is  no  more  efficient,  consecrated, 
and  resourceful  body  of  Christian  Endeavorers,  take  them  all 
in  all,  than  the  Junior  superintendents.  What  the  Juniors 
have  found  to  do  and  actually  are  doing  will  be  told  in  later 
chapters. 

The  fundamental  idea  to  be  borne  In  mind  in  a 
Training=  Junior  socicty  is  that  it  is  a  training-school.  The 
fdea^'  most  common  mistake  is  that  of  making  it  merely 

a  teaching-school.  It  is  not  a  second  primary  Sun- 
day-school class.  Most  churches  have  one.  There  is  no  need 
of  another.  The  primary  Sunday-school  is  doing  its  work 
for  the  most  part  effectively  and  well.  But  there  is  need  in 
all  our  churches  of  another  school,  where  children  shall  learn 
to  work  by  working.  This,  after  all,  is  the  fundamental  truth 
of  Christian  Endeavor,  whether  Junior  or  Senior.  The 
painter  can  learn  to  paint  a  picture  only  by  taking  brush  and 
colors  and  palette  in  hand,  and  making,  at  first,  perhaps,  un- 
sightly daubs.  He  can  never  be  an  artist  merely  by  reading 
books  of  art,  or  by  studying  its  technique,  unless  he  puts  brush 
to  canvas.  The  carpenter  cannot  become  skilful  by  reading 
the  best  treatises  on  architecture  or  house-building.  He  must 
take  into  his  own  hands  the  hammer  and  nails,  the  chisel  and 
plane;  and,  though  he  may  be  awkward  and  blundering  in  his 
first  attempts,  there  is  absolutely  no  other  way  of  learning  his 


The  Junior  Army. 


221 


trade.  He  must  have  instruction,  to  be  sure;  but  instruction 
without  practice  is  even  less  effective  than  practice  without 
instruction. 

So  it  is  in  religious  work.  The  law  is  as  inevitable  in 
the  church  as  in  the  machine-shop,  in  the  prayer-meeting  and 
missionary  society  as  in  the  artist's  studio.  The  only  way  to 
learn  to  work  is  to  go  to  work.  The  Rev.  J.  F.  Cowan,  D.D., 
in  an  admirable  address  at  the  Montreal  Christian  Endeavor 


Bridge  Built  by  Juniors  at  Melbourne  Convention,  1904. 

convention  well  applied  this  thought  to  Junior  Endeavor  soci- 
eties when  in  the  course  of  his  address  on  the  subject  he  said: 

''Were  you  not  asking  the  professor  of  music  the  other 
day  at  what  age  he  would  prefer  to  begin  with  his  pupil  on 
the  piano?  And  what  did  he  say?  At  eighteen  or  twenty- 
five?  By  no  means.  He  said,  Tf  my  pupil  is  to  be  really  a 
fine  pianist,  I  must  begin  with  him  while  he  is  yet  a  child — 
about  as  soon,  in  fact,  as  he  is  able  to  sit  on  a  piano-stool.' 
And  are  the  spiritual  muscles  and  tendons  so  much  less  sus- 
ceptible than  the  physical,  and  so  much  less  swiftly  develop- 
ing into  form  and  permanency  that  they  can  be  neglected 


222  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

through  all  the  plastic  years  of  childhood,  and  no  priceless 
advantage  be  lost?  Before  the  child  sings  he  thinks.  Long 
before  he  begins  to  ask  about  chords  and  melodies  he  begins 
to  question  about  God.  The  religious  nature  is  often  ripe 
while  as  yet  the  body  is  in  all  the  greenness  and  callowness 
of  unformed  youth.  Train  the  muscles  later  on  if  you  will. 
But,  if  you  would  train  the  soul,  you  must  take  it  at  the  start. 
And,  since  the  grand  aim  of  Christian  Endeavor  is  to  train 
Christian  workers,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  grand  mission  ot 
Christian  Endeavor  is  to  the  children."* 

^j^^^  Who  can  estimate  the  blessings  that  have  come 

They  to  children  from  an  early  acquaintance  with  Christ, 

Saved  and  an  early  effort  to  serve  Him?     It  is  not  always 

'^*""*  what  the  boys  and  girls  accomplish,  but  also  the  ex- 

periences of  sin  and  sorrow  from  which  they  are  saved,  that 
counts.     This  was  well  put  by  a  convention  speakert  who  said : 

"An  old  sailor  once  told  me  that  he  never  knew  a  boy 
to  get  washed  overboard  at  sea.  A  heavy  man  might,  for  a 
man  weighs  so  much  that,  if  he  catches  hold  of  a  rope,  he 
cannot  sustain  his  own  weight  as  a  boy  can.  A  boy  is  light 
and  wiry,  and  tenacious  if  he  gets  hold.  Simply  because  he 
is  a  boy  he  can  keep  hold.  He  has  less  to  sustain.  So  it  is 
with  the  boy  who  by  faith  lays  hold  on  Jesus;  he  has  not  the 
weight  of  so  many  habits  and  thoughts  to  drag  him  down. 
This  is  the  work  we  want  to  do  among  the  Juniors.  There 
is  a  redemptive  work,  but  we  emphasize  to-day  the  preventive 
work.  There  is  a  work  of  reformation,  but  formation  is  bet- 
ter. We  want  every  little  Junior  to  some  day  thank  God, 
like  David,  for  what  he  has  been  kept  f  rom."t 

This  same  speaker  in  the  same  address  admirably  ex- 
pressed the  Junior  idea  when  he  said: 

"If  I  were  asked  to  compress  the  most  significant  thing 
I  know  about  Junior  societies  into  a  word,  it  would  be  this: 

*  From   the   official    report  of   the   Twelfth    International    Christian    Endeavor 
Convention. 

t  Rev.  James  L.  Hill,  D.D.,  at  the  Thirteenth  International  Convention. 


The  Junior  Army. 


223 


Let  the  Juniors  do  the  work  in  their  own  society.  Do  not 
lecture  them.  Let  the  organization  be  an  autonomy.  Let 
the  chairman  read  reports  which  their  mothers  can  help  them 
write.  Let  them  feel  a  personal  responsibility,  like  the  little 
girl  who  came  to  the  leader  after  the  meeting  and  said,  'Two 
girls  got  my  chance,  and  I  almost  didn't  say  my  verse.'  Cul- 
tivate such  a  spirit  of  esprit  de  corps  that  all  will  feel  it  a 
privilege  to  belong  to  such  a  society.* 


Representing  the  Growth  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  Movement  in  China. 


As  we  see  the  Junior  army  in  every  land 
marching  with  bright  banners  and  brighter  faces; 
as  we  see  them  in  their  conventions,  greeted  with 
the  applause  of  ten  thousand  spectators,  to  whose 
eyes  their  promise  of  future  victory  brings  tears 
of  joy;  above  all,  as.  we  think  of  them  in  their  score  of  thou- 


The 

Juniors 

the 

Hope 

of  the 

Future. 


*  Rev.    James    L.    Hill,   D.D.,    at   the   Thirteenth    International    Convention. 


224         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

sand  of  little  societies  in  every  land  beneath  the  sun,  quietly, 
unostentatiously,  ploddingly,  doing  their  little  best,  learning 
to  pray,  to  work,  to  give ;  learning  to  be  obedient  and  reverent, 
and  gentle  and  kind,  we  can  echo  the  earnest  words  that  were 
spoken  at  a  Scotch  convention  by  one  of  the  earliest  friends* 
of  the  Junior  movement  when  she  said: 

*'An  old  Roman  warrior  dreamed  that  he  saw  an  army 
of  veterans,  who  shouted  as  they  marched  past,  'We  have 
been  brave!'  Behind  them  came  the  present  strong  stalwarts, 
who  were  fighting  the  battles  of  Rome,  and  they  shouted, 
*We  are  brave!'  Then  came  troops  of  young  men,  who  said, 
'We  will  be  brave!'  The  old  warrior  awoke  from  his  dream, 
exclaiming,  'There's  hope  for  Rome  yet!'  And,  as  we  see 
the  grand  army  of  Junior  Endeavorers  learning  lessons  of 
truth  and  purity,  growing  familiar  with  their  Bibles,  learn- 
ing to  delight  in  goodness  for  its  own  sake,  putting  their 
brightness  and  hopefulness  into  loving  deeds  and  kindly 
words,  we,  too,  can  say  in  a  far  truer  and  higher  sense, 
'There's  hope  for  the  world  yet;'  and  the  far-reaching  in- 
fluence of  the  young  members  of  more  than  thirteen  thou- 
sandt  Junior  societies  scattered  over  the  world  promises  great 
things  for  the  future  of  our  great  human  family.  It  prom- 
ises to  elevate  and  purify  our  political,  social,  and  commer- 
cial life,  our  industrial  and  professional  life,  and,  beyond 
and  above  all,  to  stir  up  and  brighten  our  church  life." 

*  Mrs.   A.   W.    Potts,   of   Crewe    (whose   husband    formed   the   first    British    so- 
ciety), speaking  at  the  British  National  Convention,  Glasgow,  1898. 
t  This  number,  at  this  writing,  is  nearly  doubled. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  SOCIETY  AND  THE  PSYCHOLOGIST. 

THE  AGREEMENT  OF  THE  FUNDAMENTAL  PRINCIPLES  OF. 
CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR  WITH  THE  LATEST  WORD  OF 
THE  PSYCHOLOGIST  IS  HEREIN  SET  FORTH,  AND  SOME 
MISAPPREHENSIONS  ARE  CORRECTED. 

"  The  Christian  Endeavor  is  a  good  object-lesson  as  to  the 
value  of  giving  adolescents  untrammelled  opportunity  to  serve 
God  and  perform  religious  duty.  The  Christian  Endeavor 
movement  is  a  great  witness  to  the  fact  that  religion  without 
particular  denominational  creeds  meets  the  needs  of  young  peo- 
ple. If  the  religious  emotions  are  thus  cultivated  until  estab- 
lished, the  particular  forms  will  adjust  themselves  with  little 
harm  to  the  individual."        Prof.  E.  G.  Lancaster,  Ph.D., 

in  "  The  Religious  Tendency  of  Adolescents  to  Dogma." 

7URING  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  attention  has 
been  turned  to  the  study  of  the  child  mind  as 
never  before.  It  has  been  sounded  with  all  sorts 
of  philosophic  plummets,  to  discover  its  hidden 
depths.  Ponderous  tomes  and  many  of  them 
have  been  written  on  the  subject,  some  of  them  profoundly 
suggestive  and  of  great  value.  Especially  have  the  phe- 
nomena of  adolescence  been  studied  until  it  has  seemed  to  many 
that  undue  emphasis  has  been  put  upon  the  merely  physical 
side.  A  reaction  from  this  over-emphasis  is  seen  in  some 
quarters,  but  it  is  undoubtedly  true  that  great  benefits  have 
come  from  the  clear  recognition,  on  the  psychological  side,  of 
the  immense  importance  of  this  period  of  life. 

One  of  the  most  eminent  of  the  students  of  the  child  mind 
says : 

15  225 


226  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

"During  the  next  three  or  four  years  (after  the  age  of 
twelve)  there  is  to  come  a  transformation  of  the  mental  as 
well  as  of  the  physical  organism,  more  profound  than  any 
other  between  birth  and  death.  New  kinds  of  sensations  and 
emotions,  new  modes  of  thought,  new  attitudes  of  will,  new 
problems  of  duty,  new  kinds  of  temptation,  new  mysteries  of 
religion,  all  these  come  in  a  flood  over  the  young  adolescent. 
.  .  .  If  there  be  a  heavenly  Father  who  yearns  for  fellow- 
ship with  His  children,  what  more  effective  method  could 
there  be  of  satisfying  that  yearning  than  to  attach  to  adoles- 
cence an  appetite  for  the  Infinite,  the  infinitely  true,  beauti- 
ful, and  good?  As  a  matter  of  fact  such  an  appetite  for  the 
Infinite  is  just  the  most  characteristic  part  of  mental  adoles- 
cence." * 

The  truth  of  this  statement  is  amply  borne  out  in  the  bi- 
ography of  Christian  men  who  relate  the  experience  of  their 
conversion  or  their  earliest  interest  in  religious  things. 

"I  have  during  the  last  year,"  once  wrote  the  Rev.  Charles 
H.  Spurgeon,  "received  forty  or  fifty  children  into  church- 
membership  ;  among  those  I  have  had  at  any  time  to  exclude 
from  the  church,  out  of  a  church  of  2,700  members  I  have 
never  had  to  exclude  a  single  one  who  was  received  while  yet 
a  child." 

On  two  separate  occasions  I  have  made  a  canvass  of  some 
of  the  best-known  Christian  men  of  America,  ministers  and 
laymen,  in  order  to  determine  how  many  of  them  dated  their 
religious  experience  in  their  early  years,  and  also 
Age  of  to  find  their  opinion  in  regard  to  the  expediency  of 
'  '    *  church-membership  for  the  young.     The  questions 

asked  were :  ( i )  "At  what  age  did  you  become  a  Christian?" 
(2)  "At  what  age  did  you  make  a  public  confession  of 
Christ?"  (3)  "Does  your  personal  opinion  incline  you  to  the 
belief  that  it  is  well  for  children  about  the  age  of  twelve  years 
to  make  a  public  confession  of  Christ  by  uniting  with  His 
church?" 

*  Coe,   "  The    Spiritual   Life." 


The  Junior  Army. 


227 


Such  men  as  the  late  Dr.  John  Hall,  Dr.  Abbott  E.  Kit-  \ 
tredge,  ex-President  Warren  of  Boston  University,  President 
Angell  of  Michigan  University,  Dr.  A.  J.  Gordon,  Dr.  Wash- 
ington Gladden,  the  Hon.  S.  B.  Capen,  and  others  of  like 
standing  and  the  greatest  usefulness  in  the  Christian  church, 
responded.  Almost  without  exception  they  replied  that  they 
became  Christians  very  early  in  life;  most  of  them  joined  the 
church  before  they  were  seventeen  years  of  age;  and  all  em- 
phatically advised  the  admission  of  children  to  the  church 
at  the  age  of  twelve,  or  even  earlier,  if  they  gave  evidence  of 
being  truly  Christ's  disciples.  "There  are  risks  attending  this 
early  membership,"  wrote  Dr.  Gladden,  "but  the  risks  of  per- 
mitting children  to  go  away  from  the  church  are  far  greater."* 

President  C.  F.  Thwing,  of  Western  Reserve  University, 
once  addressed  a  letter,  similar  to  the  one  I  have  referred  to, 
to  a  picked  company  of  conspicuously  useful  Christian  men. 
They  were  the  corporate  members  of 
the  American  Board  of  Commissioners 
for  Foreign  Missions.  Of  the  one 
hundred  and  forty-nine  who  replied, 
every  one  was  a  tower  of  strength  in 
later  life  in  some  church  of  Christ. 
Nine-tenths  of  them  believed  that  they 
experienced  conversion  before  they 
were  twenty,  while  only  fourteen  were 
more  than  twenty.  All  but  thirty  had 
joined  the  church  before  they  were 
twenty.  Twenty-nine  declared  that 
they   became    Christians   when    "very 

young,"  or  so  young  that  they  did  not  remember  when  they 
were  not  Christians.  Twenty-one  others  were  younger  than 
twelve  when  they  intelligently  made  the  great  decision,  and 


German  Boy  Who  Formed 
a  Society  in  a  Grammar 
School. 


*  These    testimonies    and    others    are    given    at    length    in    the    author's    book 
entitled  "  Training  the  Church  of  the  Future." 


228  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

one  hundred  and  five  of  the  one  hundred  and  forty-nine  made 
it  before  they  were  eighteen  years  of  age. 

These  practical  investigations  in  w^hat  may  be  called  bio- 
graphical psychology  were  made,  and  this  information  was 
gathered,  before  the  first  Endeavor  society  was  formed,  and 
it  was  the  startling  truths  here  revealed  that  called  for  the 
practical  efforts  in  Christian  nurture  which  later  took  the 
name  of  "Christian  Endeavor." 

Says  Dr.  E.  D.  Starbuck:  "Conversion  does 
starbuck's  ^^^  occur  with  the  same  frequency  at  all  periods  of 
striking        jjfg_     jj-  belongs  almost  exclusively  to  the  years  be- 

Testimony.  =•  . 

tween  ten  and  twenty-five.  The  number  of  in- 
stances outside  that  range  appear  few  and  scattered.  That  is, 
conversion  is  a  distinctively  adolescent  phenomenon.  It  is  a 
singular  fact,  also,  that  within  this  period  the  conversions  do 
not  distribute  themselves  equally  among  the  years.  In  the 
rough  we  may  say  they  begin  to  occur  at  seven  or  eight  years, 
and  increase  in  numbers  gradually  to  ten  or  eleven,  and  then 
rapidly  to  sixteen ;  rapidly  decline  to  twenty,  and  gradually 
fall  away  after  that,  and  become  rare  at  thirty.  One  may  say 
that  if  conversion  has  not  occurred  before  twenty  the  chances 
are  small  that  it  will  ever  be  experienced."* 

This  conclusion  of  the  psychologist  has  been  abundantly 
confirmed  in  many  a  Christian  Endeavor  convention,  where, 
for  the  sake  of  showing  the  possibility  and  importance  of  early 
conversion  and  early  religious  training,  those  who  were  con- 
verted before  twelve  and  after  twenty  had  been  asked  to  rise. 
In  audiences  of  thousands  only  a  scattering  few  have  re- 
sponded to  this  request.  But  when  those  converted  between 
twelve  and  twenty  have  been  asked  to  indicate  it,  almost  the 
whole  audience  has  risen  to  its  feet. 

The  Christian  Endeavor  Society  may  also  fairly  claim 
from  the  beginning  to  have  put  into  practical  operation  the 

*  Starbuck,   ''  The   Psychology   of  Religion." 


The  Society  and  the  Psychologist.  229 

psychologist's  dictum  already  quoted,  "No  impression  with- 
out expression."  Long  before  psychology  was  studied  except 
by  the  learned  few,  long  before  it  had  become  a  fad  in  certain 
quarters,  the  Society  attempted  to  put  into  practice  its  latest 
philosophy,  and  recognized  the  vital  importance  of  religious 
activity  to  supplement  and  round  out  religious  instruction. 

"The  cure  for  helplessness  that  comes  with  storm  and 
stress  in  the  period  of  adolescence,"  says  Professor  Starbuck, 
"is  often  found  in  inducing  wholesome  activity.  'Faith  with- 
out works  is  dead.'  Let  us  call  to  mind  the  fact  that  storm 
and  stress  and  doubt  are  experienced  sometime  during  youth 
by  something  like  seventy  per  cent  of  all  the  persons  studied. 
On  the  other  hand,  heightened  activity,  which  is  characterized 
not  only  by  interest  in  religious  matters,  but  by  engaging  in 
actual  religious  work,  was  experienced  by  only  about  twenty 
per  cent  of  all  these  persons.  This  is  doubtless  very  much 
out  of  proportion.  Many  persons  have  found  the  solution 
of  their  difficulties  by  actually  setting  about  doing  things." 

This  is  exactly  what  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society  seeks 
to  do  for  every  one  of  its  members.  It  sets  them  about  doing 
things,  and  thus  tides  them  over  the  critical  period  of  adoles- 
cence, the  years  of  storm  and  stress  and  doubt. 

Professor  Coe  confirms  Professor  Starbuck  in  prescribing 
the  same  treatment  for  those  who  are  distressed  by  doubts  and 
fears. 

"The  youth  should  by  all  means  be  induced  to 
Religious  be  active  in  those  forms  of  religious  living  that  still 
aCure?'  appeal  to  him  at  all.  .  .  .  Religious  activity 
and  religious  comforts  may  abide  at  the  same  time 
that  the  intellect  is  uncertain  how  this  fits  into  any  logical 
structure.  Thus  it  comes  to  pass  that  the  greatest  thing  we 
can  do  for  the  doubting  youth  is  to  induce  him  to  give  free 
exercise  to  the  religious  instinct.  Let  him  not  say  what  he 
does  not  actually  believe;  let  him  not  compromise  himself 

*  Starbuck,   "  The   Psychology  of  Religion." 


230         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

in  any  way;  but  it  is  always  certain  that  he  still  believes  and 
feels  and  aspires  enough  to  give  him  a  place  among  religious 
people."t 

It  is  just  this  normal,  healthy,  necessary  activity,  which 
the  scientific  psychologist  recognizes  as  so  important  in  the 
period  of  adolescence,  that  the  Young  People's  Society  of 
Christian  Endeavor  and  the  Junior  Society  attempt  to  supply. 
The  philosophy  of  its  success,  so  far  as  the  Society  has  been 
successful,  is  that  it  fits  the  need  of  the  young  soul.     The 


1 

i: 

p 

~ « 

1  c^ 

^ 

. 

%*■ '  ^.k* 

_^ 

M|<»^^H 

. 

sl 

n  fr  ^^H^|H^^^^H^B^ 

^^*     '^H^l 

mM 

1 

1 

^^^^^^^^^K  M^t^^^l 

BH 

i 

^^^^B<v 

^^^^^^^^^9 

Bpl 

d 

^Q 

»^ 

^^IPSi^^^^^HP^'*^3i 

^B^VaPP^^ 

1 

Wm 

Junior  Christian  Endeavor  Music  Band,  Konigsberg,  Germany. 

author  may  perhaps  be  pardoned  for  quoting  here  a  few  para- 
graphs from  an  earlier  work,  written  nearly  twenty  years  ago, 
before  much  was  popularly  said  about  scientific  psychology, 
but  which  shows  the  principles  upon  which  the  Society  went 
to  work  in  its  earliest  days. 

"The  cord  that  draws  the  young  soul  upward  toward  God 
is  a  threefold  strand.     He  must  know  what  Christ's  will  is 


t  Coe,   "  The   Spiritual   Life." 


The  Society  and  the  Psychologist.         231 

through  the  instruction  of  parents  and  Christian  teachers;  he 
must  publicly  acknowledge  that  Christ's  will  is  his  will;  and 
then  he  must  do  that  will.  Instruction,  confession,  activity — 
these  three  elements  entering  into  the  young  life,  when  pre- 
ceded by  a  complete  heart-surrender,  cannot  fail  to  develop 
the  strong  man,  'complete  in  Him.' 

'*It  is  just  as  unreasonable  to  expect  the  child  to  grow 
strong  of  muscle  and  supple  of  limb  while  strapped  to  a  bed 
and  never  allowed  to  rise  and  run  about,  as  to  expect  the  young 
disciple  to  grow  'strong  in  the  Lord'  while  never  exercising 
his  spiritual  faculties. 

„      .  "The  instruction  of  the   pulpit  and  Sunday- 

Exercise  .  r     r  J 

a  school  may  well  be  likened  to  the  food  provided  at 

the  family  table.  It  is,  very  likely,  abundant  in 
quantity  and  nutritious  in  quality,  but  food  without  exercise  in 
the  family  circle  makes  the  sickly,  dyspeptic  child.  Food 
without  exercise  in  the  church  is  too  apt  to  produce  no  better 
results. 

"Even  the  horses  in  our  stables  cannot  long  live  without 
exercise.  Fill  their  cribs  ever  so  full  of  the  best  feed,  they 
must  yet  do  something  to  keep  healthy.  This  is  a  natural  law, 
which  is  imperative  in  the  spiritual  world.  There  are  a  great 
many  dyspeptic  Christians  in  all  our  churches.  They  are  bil- 
ious and  disappointed  and  hopeless  and  useless,  except  as  they 
become  by  their  continual  growling  and  faultfinding  a  means 
of  grace  in  the  form  of  chastisement,  to  the  pastor  and  other 
workers.  In  fact,  they  have  all  the  symptoms  of  spiritual  dys- 
pepsia. Now  the  only  remedy  is  spiritual  activity.  'Go  to 
work,'  said  the  famous  English  doctor  to  his  rich,  dyspeptic 
patient,  'go  to  work.     Live  on  sixpence  a  day,  and  earn  it.^  "* 

Professor  G.  Stanley  Hall  in  his  monumental  work  on 
"Adolescence"  speaks  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society  as 
practically  "the  first  of  a  new  type  of  religious  organization 

*  Clark,  "  Young  People's  Prayer-Meetingfs." 


232         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

for  both  sexes."  He  then  goes  on  to  criticise  the  Society  at 
some  length,  especially  the  pledge.  Here  is  one  paragraph 
that  apparently  gives  the  gist  of  his  objection  to  the  Society. 

"To  do  such  things  (the  duties  enjoined  in  the 
Dr.  Hall's  pledge)  because  they  have  been  vowed  is  to  act 
Criticism.  fj-Qjyj  a  relatively  low  motive.  This  obscures 
higher  motives,  and  robs  these  acts  of  the  spontaneity  that  is 
half  their  charm  and  all  their  virtue.  ...  As  I  have 
observed  the  working  of  the  Junior  pledge,  it  seems  some- 
times a  cheap  and  easy  and  almost  cowardly  trick  to  ease 
the  conscience  of  parent  or  religious  teacher  by  devolving 
on  the  child  what  they  should  do  themselves  by  higher  but 
harder  motives;  and  the  smug  complacency  of  adults  at  hav- 
ing secured  and  counted  these  pledges  as  if  they  had  thereby 
discharged  in  any  sense  their  duty  seems  a  pious  delusion  that 
veils  a  partial  abdication  of  the  highest  functions  of  parent- 
hood. For  the  young  child  it  is  giving  his  religious  life  and 
nurture  precociously  over  into  his  own  keeping  at  the  very 
age  when  he  most  of  all  needs  constant  adult  aid,  and  is  least 
able  to  assume  responsibility  for  the  keeping  of  his  own 
soul."* 

The  distinguished  author  seems  to  the  writer,  at  least.  In 
these  criticisms  to  underestimate  several  important  considera- 
tions. In  the  first  place,  probably  not  one-half  of  the  members 
of  Christian  Endeavor  societies  are  from  distinctively  Chris- 
tian homes,  and  of  the  other  half  fully  one-half  more  of  the 
parents  would  in  any  event  give  but  little  attention  to  the  re- 
ligious training  of  the  children.  We  must  take  things  as  we 
find  them,  seeking  to  make  them  better,  to  be  sure,  but  not 
ignoring  the  plain  facts  of  the  case;  and  these  facts  are  that, 
whether  there  were  any  Christian  Endeavor  societies  or  not, 
three-fourths  of  the  children  and  youth  who  are  influenced  by 
them  to-day  would  receive  little  or  no  religious  training  at 
home. 

*  Hall,   "  Adolescence." 


The  Society  and  the  Psychologist.  233 

This  same  objection  has  been  raised  against  the  Sunday- 
school,  and  more  than  once;  but  where  would  millions  of 
children  to-day  receive  instruction  in  the  Bible,  were  it  not 
for  the  Sunday-schools? 

Moreover,  the  "constant  adult  aid,"  for  which  President 
Hall  pleads  at  this  critical  period,  is  the  very  thing  that  is 
given  to  the  Juniors,  usually  in  the  wisest  and  most  effective 
way,  by  their  superintendents. 

The  other  objection,  that  these  religious  duties  are  per- 
formed because  of  the  pledge,  "a  relatively  low  motive," 
while  the  higher  motives  are  "obscured,"  is  contradicted  by 
the  practical  testimony  of  tens  of  thousands  of  Endeavorers 
that  the  lower  motive  has  led  to  the  higher;  that,  beginning 
from  a  sense  of  duty,  and  in  part  because  they  had  promised 
themselves  and  God  to  read  the  Bible,  and  to  pray,  and  to 
acknowledge  Him  before  men,  they  had  gone  on  to  a  larger 
conception  of  the  privilege  of  these  duties,  and  to  a  greater 
and  greater  delight  in  them.  So  far  from  the  pledge  "ob- 
scuring" the  highest  motives,  and  rubbing  "some  of  the  bloom 
oflf  of  these  solemn  exercises,"  these  higher  motives  have  been 
revealed  and  these  more  exalted  experiences  reached  only 
through  the  performance  of  what  was  at  first  a  task  and  a 
duty. 

Such  testimonies  have  come  not  occasionally,  or  as  the 
result  of  some  unusual  experience,  but  over  and  over  and  over 
again  have  they  been  given  in  prayer-meetings  and  conven- 
tions, in  frequent  conversations  and  in  letters  sent  to  the  au- 
thor, which  he  cherishes  as  among  the  most  delightful 
expressions  that  have  come  to  him  during  all  these  years  in 
regard  to  the  value  of  the  Christian  Endeavor. 
„,  ,  Dr.  Hall  does  not  seem  to  remember  that  these 

Pledges 

All  pledges  are  taken  voluntarily,  and  except  in  rare  in- 

un  ary.    g|-^j^^.gg    without    any    undue    pressure.     They    are 

taken  because  the  young  soul  feels  the  need  of  them  himself, 


234  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

and  because  the  experience  of  others  shows  that  he  will  be 
helped  by  them.  The  author  of  "Adolescence"  also  appa- 
rently leaves  out  of  consideration  altogether  the  fact  that  these 
promises  are  made  not  to  the  society  or  to  the  church,  but 
primarily  to  God.  It  is  a  contract  with  Jehovah  as  much  as 
the  Jewish  dispensation,  and  is  more  properly  called  a  cove- 
nant than  a  pledge.  "Society  and  business  rest  upon  trust  and 
confidence  and  the  fulfilment  of  promised  obligations,"  he 
says.  But  these  obligations  are  usually  put  in  writing,  for 
every  deed  and  promissory  note  and  check  is  a  financial  pledge. 
Every  marriage  is  solemnized  by  a  vow  as  serious  and  binding 
as  words  can  make  it,  and  church-membership  is  accompanied 
by  a  covenant  which  is  as  solemn  and  far  more  comprehensive 
even  than  the  Christian  Endeavor  pledge. 

What  Dr.  Hall  calls,  not  very  graciously,  "the  religious- 
oath  craze"  he  applies  to  the  "Comrades  of  the  Quiet  Hour," 
the  "Tenth  Legion"  and  "the  Home  Circle,"  outgrowths  of 
the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  which  have  been  adopted 
by  many  thousands  of  the  strongest  men  and  women  in  our 
churches,  pastors  of  experience,  laymen  of  influence  and  honor, 
and  not  by  "girly  boys,"  for  whom  the  author  seems  to  have, 
and  rightly,  a  special  contempt.  If  I  read  Dr.  Hall's  con- 
clusions aright,  he  would  seem  to  substitute  such  an  organiza- 
tion as  he  describes  in  the  following  paragraph  for  the  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  and  other  similar  societies. 

"  Satur=  "Every  adolescent  boy  ought  to  belong  to  some 

Ucen'se"  ^^^^  ^r  society  marked  by  as  much  secrecy  as  is 
and  compatible  with  safety.     Something  esoteric,  mys- 

cMsSr  terious,  a  symbolic  badge,  countersign,  a  lodge  and 
Instinct."  its  equipment,  and  perhaps  other  things  owned  in 
common,  give  a  real  basis  for  comradeship.  This  permits, 
too,  the  abandon  of  freedom  in  its  yeasty  stage,  which  is  an- 
other deep  phyletic  factor  of  the  social  instinct.  Innocent 
rioting,   revelling  with   much   saturnalian   license,   vents   the 


The  Society  and  the  Psychologist.         235 

anarchistic  instincts  in  ways  least  injurious  to  the  community, 
and  makes  docility  and  subordination  more  easy  and  natural 
in  their  turn.  Provision  of  time  and  place  for  barbarisms  or 
idiotic  nonsense  without  adult  restraint  helps  youth  to  pass 
naturally  through  this  larval  stage  of  candidacy  to  humanity." 

We  doubt  whether  most  practical  Christian  workers 
among  children,  the  most  intelligent  and  well  versed  in 
psychology  of  them  all,  would  deem  it  best  to  cultivate  "the 
deep  phyletic  factor  of  the  social  instinct"  with  "much  satur- 


Christian  Endeavor  Juniors  in  Bebek,  Turkey. 

nalian  license,"  or  whether  they  would  think  that  the  "an- 
archistic instincts"  and  "barbarisms"  need  provision  of  time 
and  place  especially  provided  for  them,   in  the  church,   at 

least. 

No  one  has  a  greater  respect  for  the  immense  research 
and  learning  of  the  eminent  author  above  quoted;  but  he  does 
not  seem  to  provide  for  the  religious  instincts  of  the  child, 
which  are  quite  as  important  as  the  "anarchistic  instincts." 

After  all,  in  such  matters  experience  has  some  right  to  be 
heard.    The  Christian  Endeavor  movement  is  not  a  fledgeling 


236  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

of  a  year.     It  has  passed  its  majority  and  outlived  its  callow 
youth,  and  the  diseases  of  infancy.     It  is  not  a  local 

Experience     -^  . 

has  a  movement  adapted  to  some  particular  sect  or  race. 

fo^bl  It  cannot  be  called  a  "fad,"  nor  are  its  organiza- 

Heard.  ^-^j^g  managed  by  simpletons  or  religious  freaks. 

The  outcome  and  results  of  its  work  in  all  lands  should  be 
allowed  by  psychologists,  as  well  as  by  practical  Christian 
workers,  to  have  weight. 

The  homely  old  proverb  applies  to  religious  organiza- 
tions as  well  as  to  gastronomies,  "the  proof  of  the  pudding  is 
1  in  the  eating."     The  proof  of  the  Young  People's  Society  is 
I  in  what  it  does.     The  proof  of  the  covenant  is  in  the  results 
^  that  it  accomplishes.     From  all  parts  of  the  world  the  testi- 
mony is  practically  unanimous  that  the  Christian  Endeavor 
covenant  does  not  develop  a  forced  and  constrained  piety,  that 
it  does  not  "obscure  higher  motives"  or  "rob  religious  acts  of 
spontaneity."     Young  people's  societies  of  former  generations 
have  failed  largely  because  of  the  lack  of  some  such  simple, 
definite,  openly  expressed  determination  and  promise  to  do  the 
ordinary  duties  of  the  Christian  life. 

Not  only  from  cultured  churches  in  America  and  Great 
Britain,  but  from  the  jungles  of  India,  from  the  few  and  scat- 
tered Christians  on  the  banks  of  the  Ningpo,  who  have  just 
come  out  into  the  light  of  the  gospel,  from  philosophic  Ger- 
many, from  practical  Australia,  from  people  of  every  race  and 
color,  has  come  the  concurrent  testimony,  "A  promise  to  do 
my  duty  is  a  help  to  duty-doing."  "The  covenant  that  I 
voluntarily  make  with  God  helps  me  to  help  my  fellow  men." 
The  largest  practical  activities;  work  for  seamen  and 
soldiers,  for  prisoners  and  for  slum  dwellers;  fresh-air  enter- 
prises and  practical  philanthropies  of  all  kinds,  have  been 
fostered,  and  greatly  increased,  as  succeeding  chapters  will 
show,  by  "the  society  of  the  covenant,"  the  society  whose  mem- 


The  Society  and  the  Psychologist.         237 

bers  promise  to  do  what  they  think  Jesus  would  like  to  have 
them  do. 

They  have  not  expended  their  energies  in  empty  vapor- 
ings;  they  have  not  developed  the  glib  and  precocious  type  of 
unpleasant  young  saints  which  some  have  feared,  but  have 
developed  into  strong,  efficient,  practical,  every-day  Chris- 
tian men  and  women,  whose  purpose  is  to  put  their  religion 
first,  and  who  have  apparently  not  been  harmed  by  not  having 
a  society  provided,  in  the  church,  at  least,  for  "innocent  riot- 
ing and  revelling  with  much  saturnalian  license,"  for  venting 
of  "barbarisms"  or  "idiotic  nonsense."  If  by  these  somewhat 
lurid  expressions  Dr.  Hall  simply  means  that  children  should 
have  opportunity  to  give  free  play  to  their  animal  spirits,  to 
"let  off  steam,"  to  be  children  while  they  are  children,  every 
one  will  agree  with  him.  Indeed,  this  very  element  of  child 
nature  is  often  provided  for  in  Junior  sociables  and  romps  and 
excursions;  but  does  any  one  seriously  believe  that  the  average 
child,  especially  in  America,  will  not  find  or  make  opportuni- 
ties for  the  healthful  development  of  these  instincts?  Is  there 
any  danger  that  he  will  not  let  ofif  sufficient  steam?  We  cer- 
tainly do  not  want  him  to  sow  wild  oats  "with  saturnalian 
license,"  for,  if  any  idea  has  been  thoroughly  exploded,  it  is 
that  men  and  women  are  better  in  their  age  for  being  bad  in 
their  youth. 

Child  Nor  must  it  be  forgotten,  as  it  often  seems  to  be, 

?*^^Vh^  that  there  is  a  genuine  craving  on  the  part  of  the 
Religious  normal,  healthy  child  for  religious  life  and  religious 
exercises.  If  psychology  has  made  anything  plain, 
it  is  this  most  important  truth.  But,  if  it  had  never  been  con- 
firmed scientifically,  the  experience,  I  venture  to  say,  of  my 
readers  is  that  one  of  the  deepest  yearnings  of  their  hearts  when 
young  was  for  God  and  for  heavenly  things.  The  distrac- 
tions of  later  life,  the  influence  of  evil  companions,  may  have 
obscured  and  befogged  this  longing  until  it  has  almost  been 


238  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

forgotten;  but  that  it  was  a  genuine  and  real  thing  few  will 
deny. 

In  the  fascinating  life  of  Lord  Randolph  Churchill,  Eng- 
land's great  but  erratic  statesman,  recently  written  by  his  son, 
the  Hon.  Winston  Churchill,  we  are  told  that  there  was  a  boy 
at  Eton  when  Lord  Randolph  was  there,  who  used  to  read  the 
Bible  and  pray  with  a  little  coterie.  "Churchill  was  one  of 
the  band,  and  I  can  see  him  now,"  says  a  schoolboy  friend, 
"kneeling  by  the  bed  with  his  face  in  his  hands  resting  on  the 
white  coverlet,  leading  us  in  fervent  prayer."  Who  will  say 
that  that  was  not  as  natural  and  normal  a  thing  for  young 
Churchill  as  a  football  game  or  a  cricket  match? 

Just  here  it  may  be  well  to  refer  to  the  all  too  prevalent 
idea  that  compulsion  in  early  life  makes  religious  duties  irk- 
some in  later  life.  Once  in  a  while  this  may  be  true,  but  the 
danger  is  infinitely  greater  on  the  other  side,  that  laxness  in 
early  life  will  lead  almost  certainly  to  indifference  and  care- 
lessness in  later  years.  Especially  if  the  compulsion  to  per- 
form religious  duties  is  self-imposed,  as  in  the  Christian  En- 
deavor Society,  how  infinitesimal  is  the  danger  of  a  disastrous 
reaction!  Even  if  imposed  from  outside  by  parents  or  teach- 
ers, the  danger  is  but  very  small,  as  all  experience  shows. 

The  writer  once  made  some  inquiries  of  the  leading  Chris- 
tian business  men  in  Portland,  Me.,  relating  to  early  church- 
going  and  its  effect  upon  their  later  life.*  My  questions  were 
^^g  as  follows : 

Effect  of  "Dear  Sir:— 

Early  ^t-n      •    •  •  <■    1  1      i-         • 

Church=  Desirmg  to  learn  if  the  present  declme  m 

°'"^'  church  attendance,  so  often  complained  of,  is  a  reac- 

tion from  Puritanical  strictness  in  the  past,  as  is  frequently 
alleged,  or  is  due  to  laxity  of  parental  authority,  will  you  be 
so  kind  at  to  tell  me 

*  The    results    of   this    investigation   were   published   at    length   in   the   author's 
first  book  on  Christian  Endeavor,   "  The   Children   and  the   Church." 


The  Society  and  the  Psychologist.  239 

"i.     Whether  in  early  life  you  were  required  to  attend 
church  regularly? 

"2.     If  so,  did  such  compulsion  render  churchgoing  irk- 
some or  repulsive  to  you? 
*'Any  other  facts  from  personal  experience  or  from 
that  of  others  bearing  upon   this   point  will   be 
gratefully  received." 

Of  the  50  persons  to  whom  I  sent  these  questions,  45 
replied.  They  represented  different  denominations,  and  em- 
braced a  large  proportion  of  the  most  prominent  men  in  the 
churches.  Of  these  45,  three  were  not  required  to  go  to 
church  when  young,  and  42  were.  Of  these  three  who  were 
not  required  to  go,  two  went  of  their  own  accord.  Two 
others  of  my  correspondents  make  a  distinction  between  being 
required  to  go  and  being  solemnly  and  earnestly  urged  to  go, 
that  is,  between  physical  and  moral  compulsion.  But  that 
kind  of  compulsion  came  within  the  intent  of  my  inquiry. 
Where  it  is  the  regularly  expected  thing  for  children  to  at- 
tend church,  as  much  as  to  attend  school,  that  is  the  best  kind 
of  compulsion. 

Of  those  45,  then,  from  whom  I  received  answers,  42 
were  required  to  go  to  church  as  children,  two  were  not  re- 
quired to  go,  but  nevertheless  went.  Forty-two  did  not  con- 
sider churchgoing  irksome  or  repulsive,  one  did  consider  it 
irksome,  but  not  repulsive;  one  considered  it  irksome,  but  not 
because  of  the  compulsion,  and  one  did  not  go,  and  so,  of 
course,  did  not  find  church-attendance  repulsive. 

Thus  the  testimony  of  these  forty- five  representative 
Christian  men,  obtained  without  collusion  or  knowledge  as 
to  the  use  to  which  their  testimony  would  be  put,  almost  with 
unanimity  tells  that  their  early  training  required  church-at- 
tendance, and  that  such  attendance  did  not  drive  them  away 
from  church,  even  for  a  time. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  what  becomes  of  the  threadbare 


240         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

and  sickly  objection,  "I  am  afraid  to  require  any  religious 
duties  of  my  child  lest  he  acquire  a  distaste  for  them"?  Just 
exactly  as  sensible  would  it  be  to  say,  "I  am  afraid  to  require 
any  ablutions  of  my  child  lest  he  acquire  a  distaste  for  a  clean 
face." 

Now  what  do  these  statistics  show  us  in  regard  to  the 
probable  efifect  of  churchgoing  upon  boys  and  girls  of  to-day? 

So  far  as  this  testimony  goes,  we  learn  that  the  chances 
that  the  boys  and  girls  of  the  present  generation  will  become 
eminent  and  useful  Christians  are  as  44  to  i  in  favor  of  those 
who  attend  church,  as  42  to  3  in  favor  of  those  who  are  re- 
quired to  attend,  and  the  chances  that  they  will  be  repelled 
and  disgusted  by  such  requirement  are  only  as  i  to  45. 

Or,  to  put  the  matter  in  still  another  way,  so  far  as  these 
testimonies  prove  anything,  they  prove  that,  of  those  who  be- 
come particularly  eminent  and  useful  in  the  church  In  mature 
life,  nearly  98  per  cent  went  to  church  regularly  as  boys,  94 
per  cent  were  required  to  go,  and  96  per  cent  were  not  repelled 
from  church  even  for  a  little  while  by  such  requirement. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 
THE  CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR  COVENANT. 

WHEREIN  THE  COVENANT  IS  ANALYZED,  DIFFERENT 
FORMS  ARE  SUGGESTED,  IT  IS  TREATED  AS  A  TONIC, 
AND  PERSONAL  TESTIMONIES  CONCERNING  ITS  VALUE 
ARE  GIVEN. 

"  There  are  only  three  sentences  in  our  Christian  Endeavor 
pledge.  There  are  only  178  words,  and  five-sevenths  of  these 
are  words  of  only  one  syllable.  When  before  in  the  world's 
history  have  three  sentences  gone  so  far,  traversed  the  globe  so 
quickly,  penetrated  into  so  many  lands,  and  influenced  so  many 
lives?  So  mighty  are  they  that  it  is  worth  while  to  study 
their  power ;  so  helpful  are  they  that  it  is  worth  while  to  fasten 
them  into  our  minds."  Prof.  Amos  R.  Wells. 

NDER  almost  every  figure  of  speech  has  the 
Christian  Endeavor  covenant  pledge  been  de- 
scribed. It  has  been  called  the  "backbone"  of 
Christian  Endeavor,  the  "sheet-anchor"  of  Chris- 
tian Endeavor,  the  Christian  Endeavor  "Magna 
Charta,"  the  Christian  Endeavor  "tonic,"  and  I  do  not  know- 
by  how  many  other  forceful  and  suggestive  names. 

These  many  titles  show  from  how  many  points  of  view  it 
has  been  regarded,  and  it  is  doubtless  true  that  it  has  had  a 
greater  influence  upon  the  movement  in  all  parts  of  the  world 
than  any  other  one  feature.  It  has  also  aroused  greater  oppo- 
sition than  any  other  feature,  but  this  is  entirely  natural,  for 
the  citadel  is  always  the  target  for  the  enemy's  fire. 

The  most  serious  of  these  objections  have  been  inciden- 
tally considered  in  the  last  chapter.  Many  others  are  entirelv 
puerile  and  childish,  like  the  objection  of  the  young  lady  in  the 
16  241 


242  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

early  days  of  the  Society  that  the  pledge  would  always  pre- 
vent her  from  going  away  on  a  summer  vacation,  since  she 
could  not  attend  and  take  part  in  every  meeting  unless  she 
stayed  at  home  every  week  of  the  year. 

Other  objections  were  as  amusing  as  they  were  absurd, 
like  that  of  the  brother  in  Australia  who  objected  to  it  on  the 
ground  that  it  was  unscriptural,  and  went  on  to  prove  the 
somewhat  astonishing  statement  by  saying  that  the  Bible  said 
that  there  was  silence  in  heaven  by  the  space  of  half  an  hour, 
whereas  the  Christian  Endeavor  pledge  did  not  provide  for 
any  silence  in  a  Christian  Endeavor  meeting.  This  gentle- 
man was  answered  by  a  young  man  who  remembered  Solo- 
mon's injunction  to  "answer  a  fool  according  to  his  folly,"  and 
who  very  quietly  remarked  that  doubtless  the  angels  in  heaven 
had  an  excuse  which  they  could  conscientiously  give  to  the 
Master  for  their  silence,  and  this  excuse  was  specifically  ad- 
mitted to  be  a  good  one  in  the  very  heart  of  the  pledge. 
Moreover,  he  went  on  to  say,  "As  half  an  hour  is  to  eternity, 
so  the  silence  allowed  in  the  young  people's  prayer  meeting 
should  be  to  the  whole  hour  devoted  to  the  meeting." 

Most  of  the  objections,  however,  were  neither 
and^^*"*"^  frivolous  nor  foolish ;  but  they  were  often  the  result 
Misappre=     of  misapprehension  of  the  real  meaning:  and  pur- 

hensions.  ^  "^  or 

pose  of  the  covenant.  One  of  these  misapprehen- 
sions is  that  it  is  a  mere  pledge,  the  covenant  idea  being 
forgotten.  It  would  have  been  much  better,  had  it  been 
called  a  "covenant"  from  the  beginning,  for  it  is  not  a  nega- 
tive promise  to  abstain  from  something  harmful,  like  the  tem- 
perance or  anti-profanity  pledge;  it  is  a  positive  agreement 
with  Christ,  the  Master,  in  whom  we  trust  for  strength.  A 
pledge  may  have  but  one  side ;  a  covenant  must  have  two  sides, 
and  two  parties  in  agreement.  The  Christ  in  whom  we  trust 
furnishes  the  strength;  we  promise  obedience.  "Trusting  in 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  for  strength,  I  promise  Him."    This 


The  Christian  Endeavor  Covenant. 


243 


covenant  is  that  which  has  differentiated  the  Society  in  a  large 
measure  from  previous  attempts  to  train  the  young  people  for 
Christ.     This  has  made  the  Christian  Endeavor  prayer-meet- 


^di  gclobc  ntcincm  $crrn  ^cfu  ^^firifto,  im 
"iBcrtraucn  auf  fetnc  ^raft: 

Ipag  cs  mcirt  ernftcs  Bcftrcbcn  fcin  foil,  alle3cit  3U 
Itjun,  was  mcinem  f^errn  unb  fjeilanb  rooljIgcfdUt,  ubcr= 
Ijaupt  fTicin  lebenlang  einen  roatjrt^aft  d?rtftlid?en  IDanbel 
nadj  beftcm  UJiffen  unb  (Scroiffen  3U  fiiljren. 

©ag  id?  es  mir  3ur  Hegel  meincs  £cbens  madje,  jeben 
(Eag  3u  bcten  unb  (Sottes  fCort  3U  lefen,  bie  (Semeinbc, 
ber  id^  angel^ore,  nadj  Krdften  3U  unterftii^en  unb  ifjre 
rccjelinagigen  (Sottesbicnftc  3U  befudjen. 

Jpa%  id?  als  aftices  ITTitglicb  meinc  ppic^ten  gegen 
-  ben  Terein  getciffenl^aft  erfiiUen  roiU. 

lpa%  id?  in  ben  (Sebetscerfammlungcn  bis  Dercins 
iinmer  anipefenb  fcin  unb  an  bcnfelben  nid?t  nur  burd? 
<5efang,  fonbcm  c^ud?  in  anbcrer  IDeife  tljdtigcn  Jlnteil 
ncliimen  w\U. 

I^ag  mid?  nur  fold?e  (Sriinbe  non  bem  Befuc^e  ber 
regelmdgigcn  (Sottcsbienftc  unb  ben  (Sebetsperfammlungen 
bes  •J^ercins  abl^alten  fonncn',  bie  id?  por  mcinem  f^errn 
unb  nieiffer  mit  gutem  (Setpiffen  reranttrorten  fann. 

>§oUte  id?  bei  einer  monatIid?cn  Konfefrations=Der» 
fommlung  burd?aus  nid?t  attroefenb  fein  fonncn,  fo  njill 
id?,  roenn  irgenb  "moglid?,  einen  Sprud?  l^eiliger  Sd?rift 
einfenben,  ber  beim  ilufruf  meines  21amcns  oerlefen 
roerbcn  foil. 

SRome: _ _ 


GERMAN. 

Facsimile   of   a   Christian   Endeavor   Pledge   in    German. 


ings  distinct  in  their  type  and  in  their  results  from  former 
young  people's  meetings. 

Objections  would  often  be  dispelled,  too,  if  it  were  always 
borne  in  mind  that  the  covenant  is  entirely  a  voluntary  one, 


244  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

assumed  usually  without  any  undue  urging,  after  a  full  con- 
sideration of  its  weight  and  meaning.  So  far  as  its  specific 
obligations  relating  to  the  society  are  concerned,  which  are  the 
only  ones  ever  objected  to,  they  may  be  terminated  at  the  will 
of  the  member.  When  other  duties  press  upon  him,  when 
cares  of  family  and  church  make  it  impossible  for  him  longer 
to  perform  the  duties  of  an  active  member,  he  can  withdraw 
without  incurring  any  reproach  from  his  own  conscience  or 
from  others,  for  the  only  lifelong  part  of  the  pledge  is  that 
involved  in  the  very  essence  of  the  Christian  life,  to  strive  to 
do  what  Christ  would  like  to  have  us  do. 

The  provision  so  plainly  stated  and  twice  repeated  in  the 
covenant  is  also  sometimes  forgotten.  These  promises  are 
made  with  the  proviso  that  we  have  no  reasonable  excuse  for 
not  performing  them  that  we  can  give  to  the  Master.  This 
is  just  as  important  and  forceful  as  any  other  clause  in  the 
pledge;  and  was  meant  to  provide,  and  does  provide,  all  neces- 
sary and  reasonable  relief  from  its  requirements  when  in  spe- 
cific instances  they  cannot  be  fulfilled.  ''This  leaves  one's 
religious  duties,"  it  has  been  said,  "where  they  ought  to  be  left, 
a  personal  matter  between  one's  self  and  one's  Saviour."  It 
brings  everything  to  the  touchstone  of  conscience;  it  leads  the 
young  Christian  to  ask,  'What  would  Jesus  have  me  do?" 
It  afifords  a  constant  and  much-needed  stimulus  for  the  con- 
science, and  in  it  will  be  found  no  word  or  suggestion  that  is 
unreasonable  or  freakish. 

The  covenant  has  thus  been  analyzed: 

''First,  I  will  read  the  Bible. 
''Second,  I  will  pray. 
"Third,  I  will  support  my  own  church. 
"Fourth,  I  will  attend  the  weekly  prayer-meeting 
of  the  society. 

^^Fifth,  I  will  take  some  part  in  it,  aside  from  singing. 


The  Christian  Endeavor  Covenant.        245 

^^Sixth,  I  will  perform  a  special  duty  at  the  consecra- 
tion-meeting if  obliged  to  be  absent."* 

Each  one  of  these  promises  has  a  reason  and  a  special 
reason.  No  one  of  them  is  an  unnecessary  or  an  arbitrary  vow. 
Each  one  has  its  purpose  and  important  design,  and,  as  ex- 
perience has  proved,  has  been  successful  in  accomplishing  its 
design. 

This  whole  matter  has  been  put  in  a  forceful  and  pithy 
way  as  follows : 

^^^  "Don't  believe  in  daily  prayer  and  Bible-reading? 

Analysis       "Don't  bclieve  in  taking  part  in  prayer-meetings? 
Covenant      "Don't  believe  in  going  to  church? 

"Don't  believe  in  supporting  your  own  church? 
"Don't  believe  in  doing  Christ's  will? 

"Don't  believe  in  leading  a  Christian  life? 

"Don't  believe  in  trying  to  do  all  these  things? 

"Don't  believe  in  promising  to  try  to  do  them? 

"Why,  of  course  you  do  when  it  is  put  that  way!  This  is 
all  you  promise  in  the  pledge— just  to  try  to  do  them;  and  the 
pledge  expressly  says  that  you  are  not  to  do  them  whenever  you 
think  Christ  would  excuse  you  from  them.  Certainly  no  less 
excuse  should  satisfy  you,  pledge  or  no  pledge, "t 

It  should  also  be  remembered  that  no  absolute  uniformity 
of  phraseology  is  demanded  in  the  covenant.  In  fact,  many 
forms  of  the  pledge  are  now  in  use,  though  the  spirit  and  pur- 
pose and  the  general  idea  in  all  are  the  same;  in  all  is  the 
covenant  idea  that  the  Master  promises  the  strength  and  we 
promise  the  obedience. 

The  Junior  covenant,  for  instance,  is  shorter  and  more 
simple  than  the  one  generally  used  by  the  older  society.  There 
is  no  child  who  cannot  intelligently  and  honestly  promise  to 
strive  to  do  what  Christ  would  have  him  do,  to  pray  and  read 

*  "  Training  the  Church  of  the  Future." 

t  Amos   R.   Wells,   in   "  The   Endeavorer's   Daily  Companion." 


246         christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

the  Bible,  and  to  be  present  and  take  part  in  each  meeting  in 
the  simplest  possible  way  "when  I  can;"  and  this  is  all  that  is 
required. 

The  sailors  evidently  cannot  promise  to  sup- 
Different       p^^j.  ^i^g-j.  Q^j^  church,  for  they  have  none  to  sup- 

2!.  ^}^^  port;   but  thev  have   a  covenant  which   is   just  as 

Pledge.  r        5  ^  j 

forceful  and  helpful  to  them  in  their  Floating  socie- 
ties as  any  that  is  taken  by  those  who  do  business  on  the  land 
instead  of  on  the  great  deep. 

In  some  places  in  India  are  Christian  Endeavor  societies 

ARMENO-TURI^ISH, 
The   Christian  Endeavor  Covenant  in  Armeno-Turkish. 

composed  wholly  of  heathen  children.  They  cannot  honestly 
promise  to  pray  to  the  God  whom  they  have  not  yet  learned 
to  love,  or  to  serve  Him ;  but  they  do  promise  to  read  the  Bible 
and  to  learn  about  Christianity.  Such  are  the  flexibility  and 
the  complete  adaptability  to  the  most  diverse  circumstances  of 
the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  and  its  covenant. 


The  Christian  Endeavor  Covenanto         247 

Some  pastors  do  not  find  enough  in  the  ordinary  cove- 
nant, and  they  are  entirely  at  liberty  to  put  in  whatever  they 
choose.  Some  have  availed  themselves  of  this  liberty,  and 
have  prefaced  the  pledge  with  something  of  a  complete  creed 
and  confession  of  faith. 

"Surely,  if  there  is  any  feature  of  the  whole  movement 
which  has  scriptural  warrant,  it  is  the  pledge.  The  Bible  is 
a  book  of  covenants  from  beginning  to  end.  The  New  Testa- 
ment is  the  'New  Covenant  in  His  name,'  and  every  specific 
promise  in  its  essence  and  spirit  in  the  Christian  Endeavor 
covenant  is  commended  by  Christ  Himself."* 

A  most  interesting  study  would  be  the  story  of 
Influence  Covenants  in  all  ages,  and  the  tremendous  influence 
o*  they   have    had    upon    the  history   of    the   world. 

Covenants.     _^    •    i        /•     t        ^;o    i  t  t    ^ 

Ihmk  of  the  bolemn  League  and  Covenant  of 
the  Scottish  martyrs!  There  is  no  more  holy  spot  than  the 
flat  tombstone  in  Greyfriars'  churchyard,  in  Edinburgh, 
where  with  the  blood  drawn  from  their  own  veins  they  signed 
and  sealed  the  covenant  which  ensured  Scotland's  liberties 
and  made  Scotland  great. 

The  covenant  signed  by  the  Pilgrims  in  the  cabin  of  the 
Mayflower  has  had  perhaps  more  to  do  with  the  prosperity  and 
moral  vigor  of  America  than  any  other  document,  not  except- 
ing even  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  which  is  only  an- 
other covenant,  which  the  signers  pledged  their  names,  their 
fortunes,  and  their  sacred  honor  to  sustain. 

Every  church  and  body  of  Christians  that  has  made  any 
deep  impression  upon  the  world  has  had  its  own  covenant, 
though  some  have  repudiated  all  creeds.  Some  standard  of 
living  which  binds  its  members  together,  sets  before  them 
ideals,  and  gives  a  definite  aim  must  exist  in  all  organiza- 
tions. This  is  what  the  Christian  Endeavor  covenant  pledge 
has  done  and  is  doing  to-day  in  every  part  of  the  world. 

*  "  Training  the  Church  of  the  Future." 


248         christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

A  witty  writer  has  written  at  length  of  the  pledge  as  a 
tonic,*  in  which  on  analysis  he  finds  the  following  ingredients: 

"Chloride  of  gold,  '  Trusting  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Pledge  as  Christ  for  strength.'  Iron,  'I  promise  Him  that  I 
a  will  strive  to  do  whatever  He  would  like  to  have 

^°"'*^*  me  do.'     Chloride  of  sodium  (salt),  'As  an  active 

member  I  promise  to  be  present  at,  and  to  take  some  part,  aside 
from  singing,  in  every  Christian  Endeavor  prayer-meeting.' 
Quinine,  'Unless  hindered  by  some  reason  which  I  can  consci- 
entiously give  to  my  Master.'  Ammonia,  'If  obliged  to  be  ab- 
sent from  the  monthly  consecration-meeting  of  the  society,  I 
will,  if  possible,  send  at  least  a  verse  of  Scripture  to  be  read  in 
response  to  my  name  at  the  roll-call.'  The  balance  of  the 
tonic  consisted  of  water,  used  to  unite  these  various  elements." 


fpol^haje  V  Spasitele  sv6ho  JeiiSe  Krista,  jakoSto  svoji  posilu  slibuji 
Jeniu,  ie  se  budb  snaiiti  abych  dinil  v5e,  co  se  Jemu  Hbf;  ddle  ie  se 
.budu  kaSdodennS  tnodliti  i  Cfsti  p(smo  svat^  a  pokud  mi  nio2no  bude  po 
cel^  svfij  iivot  po  kfesfansku  2fti.  Jakoito  £inn^  ilen  slibuji  b^ti  pHtomnu 
a  uiastnu  v  ka2d£  3chuzi  nenaskytne-li  se  mi  nSjaki  pfek^ika,  kterou  bych 
se  mohl  svfidomitfi  omluviti  pfcd  sv^m  P4nem,  JeifSem  Kristem.  Bude-li 
mi  nemoino  dostaviti  se  do  posvScujkf  m£s(£nf  schOze,  chci  poslati  oniluvu 
svojf  nepHtomnosti  dozorCfmu  v^boru. 

Jmino: 

Ihu, .18       Adreta 

bomemian. 
The  Christian  Endeavor   Covenant  in   Bohemian. 

Then  the  writer,  after  analyzing  the  tonic,  goes  on  to  tell 
how  he  entered  into  an  agreement  with  his  friend  "Dr.  Cure- 
all"  to  try  the  efifect  of  his  tonic  upon  his  patients;  and  he,  the 
doctor,  was  simply  to  watch  results,  unless  they  were  liable  to 
prove  fatal.  These  patients  were  all  in  the  "church  ward  of 
the  hospital."  The  first  young  lady  suffered  from  Sunday 
headache;  another,  from  palsy  of  the  will,  which  prevented 

* "  The  Christian  Endeavor  Pledge  as  a  Tonic,"  by  C.  F.   Baker. 


The  Christian  Endeavor  Covenant.  249 

her  from  making  up  her  mind  to  do  difficult  duties;  a  young 
man  had  a  severe  chill  at  times,  which  changed  to  a  fever 
of  religious  excitement  at  others.  Other  cases  of  partial  par- 
alysis of  the  tongue,  hand,  or  foot,  which  prevented  the  pa- 
tients from  doing  the  work  of  the  Master  or  speaking  in  His 
behalf,  were  treated.  Tendencies  to  fast  living,  flightiness  of 
mind  and  purpose,  delirious  talk  of  philosophy  and  science 
by  patients  who  understood  nothing  about  either,  were  all 
treated  by  the  same  tonic,  which  according  to  the  doctor  and 
his  fellow  physician,  Dr.  Cureall,  was  effective  in  every  case. 

The  fame  of  the  tonic  spread,  we  are  told,  and  orders 
came  for  it  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  "In  view  of  this 
fact  I  do  not  think  I  should  be  treating  you  right,"  says  the 
author,  "if  I  did  not  give  you  some  of  the  testimonials  regard- 
ing its  efficacy,  from  those  who  have  tried  it.  The  first  is 
from  a  missionary  in  Africa:  'Having  taken  this  tonic  faith- 
fully, I  wish  to  testify  to  its  efficacy  in  making  me  useful 
among  the  heathen  on  the  upper  Congo.  I  have  not  had  a 
touch  of  fever  since  I  came  to  this  field,  but  am  able  to  help 
in  saving  the  souls  of  the  natives  by  introducing  the  use  of  the 
tonic'  The  next  from  a  pastor  in  Sydney,  New  South  Wales: 
'We  have  been  using  the  tonic  since  it  was  first  introduced 
here,  and  find  it  the  best  thing  we  have  ever  seen  to  keep  up 
the  strength,  courage,  and  vim  of  our  workers,'  etc." 

Genuine  quotations  might  be  given  by  the  thousand,  and 
from  many  lands,  to  show  what  the  covenant  has  actually  ac- 
complished for  those  who  have  taken  it  and  honestly  tried  to 
live  up  to  it.  It  would  require  volumes  far  larger  than  this 
to  give  all  these  testimonies.  Many  have  been  printed  else- 
where, and  it  is  noticeable  that  they  tell  in  almost  every  case 
of  the  practical  help  afforded  by  the  pledge  in  sweetening 
and  brightening  the  life  and  in  making  it  more  helpful  to 
others. 

In  this  connection  I  can  give  but  a  few  from  many  testi- 


250  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

monies  that  are  before  me.  These  come  from  young  men  and 
women  in  very  different  circumstances,  and  are 
Testhnony.  fairly  characteristic  of  all.  "The  covenant  pledge 
has  brought  me  from  the  place  of  simply  a  mem- 
ber of  the  church  to  the  place  of  a  working  Christian,  and 
taught  me  that  there  is  something  for  me  to  do;  besides  get- 
ting I  must  give." 

"It  has  made  me  a  more  faithful  and  earnest  Sunday- 
school  teacher,  more  loyal  to  my  Saviour  and  church  and 
pastor,  and  more  interested  in  all  other  Christians." 

"In  striving  to  do  whatever  He  would  have  me  do  my 
every-day  life  has  been  changed;  it  helps  me  to  control  my 
temper,  to  put  away  troubles,  to  overcome  trials,  temptations,, 
and  the  fear  of  ridicule,  to  put  self  in  the  background  and 
bring  before  my  companions  the  One  whose  love  is  boundless 
and  free." 

"The  pledge  has  helped  me  by  lubricating  the  clasp  of 
my  purse." 

"The  pledge  is  a  beautiful  bridge  of  duty  over  the  chasm 
of  indifiference." 

"It  has  helped  me  to  be  more  conscientious  in  the  dis- 
charge of  all  my  duties,  more  honest  and  truthful  in  my 
'reasons'  for  either  doing  or  not  doing  those  specified  in  the 
pledge.  It  has  made  me  more  prayerful,  more  earnest,  more 
reverent,  and  has  made  me  a  daily  searcher  of  the  Scriptures; 
and  because  that  'whatever'  means  not  to  do,  as  well  as  to  do,  it 
has  given  me  courage  to  say,  "No,"  and  stand  by  it  where  it 
cost  something  to  do  it.  It  has  strengthened  my  faith,  and 
increased  my  love  for  Christ  and  the  souls  He  died  to  save. 
It  has  made  me  a  better  Christian,  consequently  a  better  daugh- 
ter, sister,  friend,  and  neighbor.  In  short,  it  has  put  more 
of  Christ  into  my  life." 

The  following  forms  of  the  covenant  pledge  are  used, 
and  many  others  embodying  the  same  idea.     It  will  be  seen  by 


The  Christian  Endeavor  Covenant.         251 


these  forms  that  it  is  flexible  enough  to  be  adapted  to  differ- 
ent circumstances,  but  it  is  earnestly  hoped  that  its  provisions 
will  not  be  weakened  in  any  society  that  calls  itself  "Chris- 
tian Endeavor"  so  as  to  become  meaningless,  but  that  it  will 
always  stand  in  every  society  for  whole-hearted  consecration 
to  Christ,  regular  participation  in  the  meetings,  and  loyalty 


avMif 


FlKAMBANAN'NY  KRISTIANA  TaNORA 

AO  AMBOHIPOTSY. 


FANEKENA. 


(1)  Noho  ny  fahatokiako  any  Jesosy  .Kraiety 
Mpamonjy  ahy  sy  ny  fitiavako  Azy  dia  luanolo-tena 
ho  mpanompony  aho  ka  manaiky  hanao  izay  tiany 
hataoko  mandrakariva. 

(2)  Manaiky  haraaky  ny  Soratra  Masina  sy  hiva^ 
yaka  amin'  Andrfamanitra-isan-andro  aho, 

(3)  Manaiky  Jianao-  izaiy  aaoko  atao  aho  hitaona 
ny  sasany  ho  Kr^stiana,  ary  hitady  izay  asa  ho  any 
Jesosy  K.rai3ty  Tompoko  tandrifin'  ny  ho  any  ny 
tenako. 

(4)  Satria  voaray  ho  isan'  ity  Fikambanana  ity 
aho.  dia  manaiky  ho  tonga  amy  ny  fotoain-pivava- 
bana  isan-kerinandro  ka  hahavita  izay  tokony  ho 
anjarako  amin'  izany,  raha  tsy  misy  sampona  lehibe 
izay  ataoko  ho  ampy  hahafa-tsiny  ahy  aminy  Jesosy 
Kraisty  Tompoko.  Ary  raha  misy  mahasampona 
ahy,  dia  manaiky  hampandre  ny  sekretary  aho. 

Hoy  

189 


The  Christian  Endeavor   Pledge  in  Malagasy. 

to  the  local  church.     More  societies  have  failed  because  of 
a  weakened  pledge  than  for  any  other  reason. 

The  form  used  in  most  societies  is  as  follows: 

ACTIVE  member's  PLEDGE. 

"Trusting  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  for  strength,  I  promise 
Him  that  I  will  strive  to  do  whatever  He  would  like  to  have 


2^2  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

me  do;  that  I  will  make  it  the  rule  of  my  life  to  pray  and  to 
read  the  Bible  every  day,  and  to  support  my  own  church  in 
every  way,  especially  by  attending  all  her  regular  Sunday  and 
midweek  services,  unless  prevented  by  some  reason  which  I  can 
conscientiously  give  to  my  Saviour;  and  that,  just  so  far  as  I 
know  how,  throughout  my  whole  life,  I  will  endeavor  to  lead  a 
Christian  life.  As  an  active  member  I  promise  to  be  true  to 
all  my  duties,  to  be  present  at  and  to  take  some  part,  aside  from 
singing,  in  every  Christian  Endeavor  prayer-meeting,  unless 
hindered  by  some  reason  which  I  can  conscientiously  give  to 
my  Lord  and  Master.  If  obliged  to  be  absent  from  the 
monthly  consecration-meeting  of  the  society,  I  will,  if  possible, 
send  at  least  a  verse  of  Scripture  to  be  read  in  response  to  my 
name  at  the  roll-call." 

A  simpler  form  used  by  many  societies  on  the  continent 
of  Europe  and  in  mission  lands,  and  that  answers  all  the  re- 
quirements of  many  societies  in  all  lands,  is  as  follows: 

"Trusting  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  for  strength,  I  promise 
Him  that  I  will  strive  to  do  whatever  He  would  like  to  have 
me  do;  that  I  will  pray  and  read  the  Bible  every  day;  and  that, 
just  so  far  as  I  know  how,  I  will  endeavor  to  lead  a  Christian 
life.  I  will  be  present  at  every  meeting  of  the  society,  unless 
prevented  by  some  reason  which  I  can  conscientiously  give  to 
my  Saviour,  and  will  take  part  in  the  meeting,  either  by  prayer, 
testimony,  or  a  Bible  verse.  As  an  active  member  of  this  soci- 
ety I  promise  to  be  faithful  to  my  own  church,  and  to  do  all  I 
can  to  uphold  its  work  and  worship." 

The  sailors'  pledge  is  much  like  the  above,  except  that 
a  promise  of  purity  and  temperance  is  substituted  for  the  last 
clause. 

The  usual  Junior  pledge  reads: 

"Trusting  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  for  strength,  I  promise 
Him  that  I  will  strive  to  do  whatever  He  would  like  to  have 
me  do ;  that  I  will  pray  and  read  the  Bible  every  day ;  and  that, 
just  so  far  as  I  know  how,  I  will  try  to  lead  a  Christian  life. 


The  Christian  Endeavor  Covenant.  253 

I  will  be  present  at  every  meeting  of  the  society  when  I  can, 
and  will  take  some  part  in  every  meeting." 

In  the  pledge  of  the  "preparatory"  Junior  members  they 
simply  promise  to  come  to  the  meetings  and  to  be  quiet  and 
reverent  in  them. 

The  following  is  the  covenant  of  the  prison  societies  of 
Christian  Endeavor: 

''First.     I  will  accept  Jesus  as  my  Lord  and  Saviour. 

''Second.  I  will  try  to  learn  and  do  His  will  by  forming 
the  habit  of  praying  and  carefully  reading  my  Bible  daily,  and 
by  thinking,  speaking,  and  acting  as  I  believe  He  would  in  my 
place, 

"Third.  I  will  obey  the  prison  rules,  will  treat  the  offi- 
cers with  respect,  and,  so  far  as  possible,  will  conduct  myself 
without  ofifence  toward  my  fellow  prisoners. 

"Fourth.  When  able  to  do  so,  and  not  prevented  by  my 
duties  to  the  prison,  I  will  attend  all  the  meetings  of  the 
League. 

"Fifth.  I  will  wear  the  official  button  of  the  League,  and 
will  endeavor  to  make  it  both  the  means  of  helping  others  and 
an  honor  to  the  cause  of  my  Master. 

"Sixth.  On  leaving  the  prison  I  will  enter  some  honest 
employment  and  become  an  upright  and  helpful  member  of 
society." 


CHAPTER  XIX. 
THE  CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR  FORUM. 

A  CHAPTER  DEVOTED  TO  THE  CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR 
PRAYER-MEETING  AS  A  NEW  TYPE  OF  YOUNG  PEOPLE'S 
MEETING,  SHOWING  HOW  A  CHANGE  OF  EMPHASIS 
HAS  VASTLY  INCREASED  THE  USEFULNESS  OF  THE  OLD- 
FASHIONED  YOUNG  PEOPLE'S  PRAYER-MEETING. 

"  Properly  conducted,  the  prayer-meeting  generates  the 
power,  which,  applied  to  the  officers,  committees,  and  members, 
produces  through  them  the  practical  results  desired.  Do  away 
with  the  prayer-meeting,  and  the  Endeavor  society  might  as 
well  be  done  away  with."  Rev.  Sherman  H.  Doyle, 

Philadelphia. 

HERE  is  one  meeting  that  is  essential  to  a  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  society,  and  that  is  the  weekly 
prayer-meeting.  Other  meetings  are  important, 
but  they  are  not  absolutely  essential.  Literary 
meetings  and  musicales,  and  especially  social 
gatherings,  often  have,  and  may  well  have,  a  large  place  in 
the  society.  But  without  them  a  society  could  live  and  do  a 
very  commendable  work  for  the  church  and  the  community. 
It  would  not,  however,  long  retain  its  religious  character, 
and  prove  the  spiritual  power  that  it  ought  to  be,  if  the  prayer- 
meeting  were  omitted,  or  held  but  occasionally. 

What  the  forum  was  to  the  ancient  Greeks,  the  weekly 
prayer-meeting  is  to  the  Endeavor  society.  It  brings  the  peo- 
ple together  in  sympathy  and  hearty  accord,  it  provides  a 
democratic  assemblage,   it  gives  every  one  a  chance   to  be 

254 


The  Christian  Endeavor  Forum,  255 

heard;  it  provides  for  the  discussion  of  the  most  important 
topics;  it  stimulates  the  intellectual  life.  Here,  perhaps,  the 
comparison  halts,  for  the  Christian  Endeavor  meeting  aims  to 
do  much  more  than  this ;  its  design  is  especially  to  stimulate 
and  strengthen  the  spiritual  life,  to  discuss  not  affairs  of  state, 
but  the  afifairs  of  the  Kingdom,  and  to  furnish  energy  and 
inspiration  for  all  the  many  varieties  of  work  which  the  so- 
ciety may  undertake. 

Some  of  the  great  conventions  which  have  aroused  the 
wide-spread  interest  of  the  secular  as  well  as  the  religious 
world  have  been  described;  but,  though  they  are  the  most 
spectacular  and  impressive  gatherings  to  which  the 
Vast  Endeavor  Society  has  given  birth,  they  are  not  by 

oiTIhe*^""  ^^y  iTieans  the  most  important  or  significant.  It  is 
Weekly         the  little  wccklv  assemblage,  multiplied  sixty  thou- 

Meeting.  -  ,  , 

sand  times,  m  country  and  city,  on  prairie  and 
mountain-side,  in  the  church  of  the  rich  and  the  church  of 
the  poor,  that  makes  these  great  conventions  possible,  and  fur- 
nishes the  power  for  all  the  machinery  and  exhibitions  of 
strength  and  vitality  which  the  Society  affords. 

We  sometimes  see  a  mighty  river  sweeping  to  the  sea,  and 
in  its  onrushing  power  and  resistless  tide  we  forget  the  ten 
thousand  little  rills  and  tributaries  which  alone  have  made 
it  possible.  Sometimes  they  trickle  down  from  the  mountain- 
side, entirely  unnoticed;  sometimes  the  spring  bubbles  up 
from  beneath  the  river's  surface  and  gives  no  sign  of  its 
presence;  but  it  is  the  rivulet  and  the  spring  that  make  the 
river.  It  is  the  ten  thousand  little  Endeavor  meetings,  and 
the  activities  which  they  generate  and  stimulate,  which  make 
the  Christian  Endeavor  movement. 

If  there  is  one  thing  more  than  another  that  the  Society 
may  modestly  claim  to  have  accomplished,  it  is  the  regenera- 
tion of  the  young  people's  prayer-meeting.  It  is  not  too  much 
to  say  that  it  has  introduced  a  new  prayer-meeting  idea  into 


256  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

the  churches,  and  has  substituted  for  the  predominant  idea 
of  instruction  the  predominant  thought  of  practice  and  service 
and   inspiration. 

The  writer  may  be  permitted  here,  perhaps,  to  reprint 
some  paragraphs  *  on  this  subject  which  he  wrote  several  years 
ago,  in  which  the  essential  point  was  that  the  young  people's 
meeting  is  for  service  and  inspiration.  This  thought  has  been 
strengthened  in  his  mind  during  all  the  years  since  these  words 
were  written,  and  by  many  journeys  in  many  lands,  where 
under  very  diverse  circumstances  he  has  found  the  Christian 
Endeavor  prayer-meeting  idea  to  be  essential  to  the  prosperity 
of  the  movement. 

"In  many  thousands  of  churches,  a  quarter  of  a  century 
ago,  the  prayer-meeting  had  degenerated  into  a  lecture  by  the 
minister,  supplemented,  perhaps,  by  one  or  two  long  and  able 
A  Picture  petitions  by  the  brethren.  The  following  picture 
of^Some       ^^  ^1^^  prayer-meeting  of  old  will  be  recognized  by 

Fashioned       nianv ' 

Prayer=  ^  '  ,  . 

Meetings.  "The   notice  was   given   from   the   pulpit,   'The 

prayer  and  conference  meeting  will  be  held  at  the  usual  hour.' 
When  the  'usual  hour'  arrived,  a  sparse  congregation  of  from 
six  to  twenty-six  would  spread  themselves  out  over  the  vestry, 
occupying  as  much  of  the  floor  space  as  possible,  that  the  pov- 
erty of  attendance  might  not  be  too  evident.  The  pastor 
would  give  out  a  long  hymn;  the  organist  would  play  the  tune 
all  through,  chorus  and  all,  upon  an  asthmatic  organ;  the 
scattered  congregation  would  pipe  through  five  or  six  verses 
of  the  hymn;  then  would  come  a  long  prayer  from  the  pastor 
and  an  abbreviated  sermon  of  from  twenty  to  thirty  minutes 
in  length.  The  venerable  deacon,  (God  bless  him!)  who  for 
years  had  borne  the  burden  and  heat  of  the  day,  would  ofTer 
a  long,  long  prayer,  not  forgetting  the  Jews,  even  though  he 
sometimes  did  forget  the  commonplace  members  of  the  Sun- 

*  From   "  World-Wide  Endeavor." 


The  Christian  Endeavor  Forum.  257 

day-school  connected  with  his  own  church.  Another  long 
hymn  and  prayer,  and  the  time  to  close  would  come,  much 
to  the  relief  of  the  majority  of  the  audience. 

"Many  of  my  readers  will  recognize  this  description  as 
in  no  sense  a  caricature  of  the  prayer-meeting  a  generation 
back. 

"The  so-called  youn^  people's  prayer-meeting  was 
scarcely  more  attractive.  The  attendance  was  still  smaller, 
and,  though  the  average  age  was  somewhat  younger  than  in  the 
other  prayer-meeting  of  the  church,  yet  it  required  a  great 
stretch  of  courtesy  and  an  extensive  winking  at  gray  hairs  and 
wrinkles  to  consider  the  majority  of  those  present  any  longer 
young  people,  except  by  brevet. 

"The  only  warm  spot  in  the  room  was  often  found  in  the 
air-tight  stove.  One  of  the  more  elderly  young  men  usually 
occupied  the  chair.  By  no  possibility  was  it  a  young  woman, 
and  there  were  many  most  painful  pauses,  which  could  be 
filled  up  only  by  a  frequent  resort  to  the  overworked  hymn- 
book. 

"I  am  far  from  saying  that  all  young  people's  meetings 
or  all  church  prayer-meetings  are  accurately  described  in  the 
foregoing  paragraphs,  but  without  hesitation  I  can  call  many 
of  my  readers  to  witness  that  a  great  many  meetings  could  thus 
be  described  without  a  particle  of  exaggeration. 

"Very  evidently  there  was  a  fault  somewhere, 
Was  and  this  fault  was  a  radical  one,  lying  at  the  very 

Fault?  basis  of  the  prayer-meeting  idea  in  many  churches. 

"It  was  a  service  for  instruction  rather  than  in- 
spiration. It  was  the  place  where  young  people  and  others 
should  study  the  map  of  the  celestial  city,  and  hear  about  the 
positions  of  the  guide-posts  which  pointed  to  it,  but  a  meet- 
ing where  they  were  not  expected  to  take  many  forward  steps 
in  the  direction  of  that  city. 

"Of  course,  if  it  were  a  meeting  for  instruction,  it  must 

17 


:58 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


naturally  drift  into  the  hands  of  those  who  were  able  to  in- 
struct. The  pastor,  the  aged  deacon,  venerable  in  years  and 
ripe  in  experience;  the  college  graduate,  and  the  glib  or  gifted 
speaker  found  a  place  in  the  prayer-meeting  for  the  exercise 
of  their  gifts;  but  there  was  no  place  in  such  a  meeting  for 
young  Thomas  and  Henry  and  Marv  and  Susan.     They  were 


Getting   Ready   for  a  Convention   in    Portugal. 

not  wise.  They  had  little  experience.  If  they  spoke  at  all, 
it  must  be  in  a  stumbling  and  hesitating  way.  Perhaps  they 
would  break  down  if  they  even  attempted  to  repeat  a  verse 
of  Scripture.  What  place,  then,  for  their  active  participation 
would  there  be  in  such  a  meeting? 

"For  generations  the  idea  of  edification  was  the  fetich  of 
the  prayer-meeting.  No  one  was  expected  to  take  part  who 
could  not  'speak  to  edification,'  and  the  remnants  of  this  idea, 
frayed  and  torn  as  they  are,  are  still  the  bane  of  many  a  prayer- 
meeting  in  all  parts  of  the  world. 


The  Christian  Endeavor  Forum.  259 

"The  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  started  with  another 
conception  of  the  prayer-meeting.  It  was  not  a  place  for  in- 
struction from  man  so  much  as  for  instruction  from  God.  It 
was  not  the  place  for  the  exposition  of  a  body  of  divinity  or 
for  indoctrination  in  the  fine  points  of  theology.  It  was  a 
place  for  practice  rather  than  for  preaching,  for  inspiration 
and  fellowship  rather  than  for  instruction,  a  place  for  the 
participation  of  all  the  average  two-talent  people  rather  than 
of  the  exceptional  ten-talent  man  and  woman. 
Ins  iration  "The  idea  of  instruction  was  not  ignored,  but  the 
versus  leaders    of    this    new    society    contended    that    the 

Instruction.  i  i  /■         •  . 

prayer-meetmg  was  not  the  place  for  mstruction 
in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word,  and  that  there  is  ample 
room  for  instruction  in  other  services  of  the  church.  The 
Sunday-morning  service  is  for  instruction.  The  Sunday- 
evening  service  is  for  instruction.  The  Sunday-school  is  for 
instruction.  The  pastor's  catechetical  class  is  for  instruction. 
The  missionary  concert  is  for  instruction.  The  religious 
newspaper  is  for  instruction.  In  fact,  there  are  few  depart- 
ments of  church  life  which  have  not  this  for  their  central  idea. 
But  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society  has  always  believed  that 
the  prayer-meeting  was  for  another  order  of  service,  and  that 
this  other  service  is  quite  as  necessary  to  the  development  of 
spiritual  activities  as  the  service  of  instruction. 

"And  so  it  happens  that  the  whole  idea  of  participation 
is  changed.  There  is  something  for  Thomas  and  Henry  and 
Mary  and  Susan  to  do,  as  well  as  for  their  respective  and 
respected  fathers  and  grandfathers.  There  is  an  appropriate 
and  modest  part  which  the  youngest  believer  in  Christ  can 
have  in  the  weekly  prayer-meeting  as  well  as  the  pastor  and 
the  oldest  saint.  And,  moreover,  it  is  not  only  fitting  for 
them  to  participate,  but  it  is  obligatory  upon  them  to  confess 
their  Lord,  if  they  would  grow  in  His  grace  and  knowledge." 

The  most  encouraging,  and  to  many  people  the  most  sur- 


26o  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

prising,  elements  in  the  new  prayer-meeting  have  been  its  per- 
manence and  its  adaptability.  Many  were  the  predictions 
that  it  would  soon  lose  its  power,  and  fall  flat  and  stale.  Far 
from  that,  it  has  grown  in  importance,  and  has  received  the 
adherence  of  new  multitudes  every  year.  I  am,  of  course,  far 
from  saying  that  every  Christian  Endeavor  prayer-meeting  is 
what  it  ought  to  be,  that  there  are  none  that  are  dull  and 
insipid  and  lacking  in  intellectual  and  spiritual  vitality. 

Weak  leadership,  indifference,  and  coldness  on  the  part 
of  pastor  and  church,  and  frivolous  worldliness  on  the  part  of 
the  young  people  will  make  havoc  of  any  prayer-meeting. 
But  that  in  spite  of  these  difficulties  and  prejudices  this  type 
of  meeting  has  persisted,  and  grown  in  strength,  and  obtained 
more  and  more  recognition,  is  proof  of  its  worth.  The  fur- 
ther fact  that  it  has  been  so  easily  adapted  to  all  classes  and 
conditions  of  men  is  another  great  argument  in  its  favor.  It 
is  not  an  exotic  in  China  any  more  than  in  America.  It  is 
adapted  to  seamen  as  well  as  to  landsmen.  It  finds  its  place 
in  the  rudest  little  societies  of  converted  Hottentots  and 
among  the  blackfellows  of  Australia  as  well  as  in  the  cultured 
congregations  of  Germany  and  Great  Britain. 
Religion  Most  cucou raging,  too,  is  the  light  which  these 

inherent  ^^^^^  ^^^^  upou  the  Undying  power  of  the  religion 
Necessity,  gf  Christ  and  the  inherent  necessity  implanted 
within  the  young  soul  to  be  religious  and  to  acknowledge  his 
religion  before  others. 

The  spectacle  of  little  Lord  Randolph  Churchill  at  Eton 
leading  in  prayer  with  his  companions  in  their  schoolboy 
prayer-meetings  is  only  an  illustration  of  the  desire  implanted 
in  all  children  and  youth  to  give  some  expression  to  their  re- 
ligious life.  This  desire  is  often  latent,  and  it  is  sometimes 
smothered,  when  it  shows  itself,  by  injudicious  parents  or  re- 
ligious leaders;  but  it  is  there,  and  in  kindlier  soil  and  under 
genial  skies  the  seed  is  sure  to  develop.     That  some  seeds  when 


\ 


The  Christian  Endeavor  Forum.  261 

scattered  on  the  rock  fail  to  germinate  is  no  proof  that  there 
is  not  vitality  in  them.  The  fact  that  all  other  seeds  of  the 
same  kind  when  planted  rightly  and  nourished  tenderly,  do 
produce  beautiful  flowers  and  delicious  fruit  is  a  sign  of  the 
universal  possibilities. 

The  Christian  Endeavor  prayer-meeting  is  the  nursery 
where  such  seeds  may  be  planted  and  cared  for.  It  has  some 
times  been  objected  to  as  a  "hothouse,"  an  objection  which  has 
little  force,  for  little  that  is  forced  and  precocious  is  ever  ob- 
served in  these  meetings ;  but,  even  if  it  were  true,  it  might  well 
be  replied  that  a  hothouse  is  far  better  than  an  ice-house  for  the 
growth  of  young  plants,  and  that  when  well  started  in  pe- 
culiarly favorable  circumstances  they  may  be  transplanted 
with  little  fear  of  loss  to  the  larger  garden. 

It  will  be  seen  from  what  has  already  been  said, 

as  the  author  has  tried  to  make  plain  more  at  length 
AChange  -^^  another  volume,*  that  the  new  idea  which  the 
Emphasis.     Endeavor  Society  has  introduced  lies  rather  in  a 

change  of  emphasis,  which,  however,  makes  all  the 
difference  in  the  world  with  the  meeting.  The  moulding 
power  of  the  meeting  upon  the  life  is  due,  not  to  the  teaching 
which  the  young  people  received  so  much  as  to  obedient  con- 
formity to  Christ's  word  in  confessing  His  name  before  men, 
and  thus  obeying  one  of  His  supreme  commands.  It  must 
not  be  thought,  however,  from  what  has  been  said  that  the 
Christian  Endeavor  prayer-meeting  consists  in  the  repetition 
of  stale  and  trite  remarks,  or  stereotyped  words  about  believ- 
ing and  trusting  in  Jesus,  such  as  have  sometimes  brought  the 
prayer-meeting  of  old  into  disrepute.  Every  Endeavor  meet- 
ing has  its  topic,  with  many  Scripture  references  and  abun- 
dant helps.  These  topics  furnish  the  greatest  variety  of 
theme,  are  selected  by  experts  in  the  matter  with  much  care, 
cover  every  variety  of  Christian  experience,  missions,  good  cit- 

*  "  The   Christian   Endeavor   Manual." 


262  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

izenship,  temperance,  and  practical,  every-day  duties,  and  are 
as  stimulating  to  the  intellect  as  to  the  soul.  Besides  all  this, 
in  many  societies  (would  that  it  were  true  in  all!)  the  pastor 
is  expected  to  take  at  least  five  minutes  at  the  end  of  the  meet- 
ing to  "gather  up  its  ends  "  and  to  enforce  its  most  important 
truths. 

That  these  meetings  are  no  jejune,  parrot-like  repetitions 
of  outworn  formulas,  but  furnish  as  good  food  for  the  mind 
as  for  the  heart,  is  proved  by  the  immense  pains  taken  in  these 
days  to  make  the  meeting  increasingly  useful  to  all.  Hun- 
dreds of  religious  papers  every  week  contain  expositions  of 
the  Christian  Endeavor  topic;  the  best  minds  among  ministers 
and  laymen  are  called  upon  for  contributions  to  the  weekly 
theme.  Ancient  and  modern  literature  is  ransacked  for  illus- 
trations of  the  truth  under  consideration.  Helpful  volumes 
are  published  every  year,  both  on  the  Junior  and  on  the 
Young  People's  topics,  while  pamphlets  and  booklets  for  those 
who  lead  and  for  those  who  participate,  and  suggestions  for 
varying  and  improving  the  meeting,  are  numberless.  The  lit- 
tle book  entitled  "Prayer-Meeting  Methods,"  by  Amos  R. 
Wells,  is  perhaps  the  most  comprehensive  collection  of  prayer- 
meeting  plans  ever  printed,  and  those  who  study  it  and  use  it 
in  the  right  way  have  no  excuse  for  a  poor  prayer-meeting. 
^.     ^  The  consecration-meeting  is  another  distinctive 

The  Con=  ,  .     .  ° 

secration=  scrvicc  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society,  an  idea 
^^  '"^*  which  it  introduced  into  the  young  people's  meet- 
ings at  the  very  beginning.  It  answers  more  purposes  than 
one.  It  compels  the  young  soul  to  look  back  upon  the  past, 
not  with  morbid  introspection, — there  is  very  little  danger  of 
that  in  these  practical  days, — but  with  thanksgiving  or  with 
confession  according  as  he  has  improved  or  neglected  his  op- 
portunities, and  fulfilled  or  forgotten  his  vows. 

But  he  inevitably  looks  forward,  too,  as  well  as  back- 
ward; for  it  is  the  service  of  the  new  month,  and  the  new 


The  Christian  Endeavor  Forum.  263 

old  duties  which  are  ever  opening  up  before  him,  to  which 
he  would  consecrate  himself. 

If  there  are  a  backward  and  a  forward  look,  there  must 
certainly  be  an  upward  look;  for  it  is  a  "covenant-meeting" 
as  well  as  a  consecration-meeting,  a  meeting  for  the  renewal 
of  the  vows  to  God,  a  meeting  for  the  reception  of  new 
strength  from  Him.  In  fact,  in  some  ways  the  name  "cov- 
enant-meeting" is  better  than  the  name  "consecration-meet- 
ing," as  "covenant"  is  better  than  "pledge." 

Again,  the  consecration-meeting  serves  as  a  reminder  of 
the  seriousness  of  the  Christian  profession.  The  very  act  of 
calling  the  roll  of  active  members  puts  a  new  and  solemn 
emphasis  upon  the  fact  sometimes  forgotten  in  the  rush  and 
stress  of  busy  life,  that  the  Christian  has  been  set  apart  for  the 
service  of  God. 

This  meeting,  too,  furnishes  the  best  opportunity  for 
keeping  the  society  active  and  single-hearted  in  its  religious 
purpose.  Those  who  are  wilfully  indifferent  to  their  duties 
are  soon  detected  by  the  monthly  roll-call,  and  can  either  be 
won  back  to  duty  and  religious  service,  or,  if  it  needs  must  be, 
after  kindly  care,  can  be  dropped  from  the  society's  rolls,  and 
thus  no  longer  remain  an  incubus  upon  its  life. 

The  consecration-meeting  sometimes  loses  its  power  be- 
cause of  the  monotony  and  uniformity  of  the  way  in  which 
it  is  conducted.     But  this  is  entirely  unnecessary,  for  there  " 
many  ways  of  carrying  it  on,  which  will  preserve  its  f* 
ness  and  solemn  power.     Mr.  Wells  in  his  booklet*  on  .  > 
consecration-meeting  describes  no  less  than  seventeen  different 
ways  in  which  the  consecration-meeting  may  be  conducted  and 
all  its  essential   features   preserved.     Here   are   the  glowing 
words  of  this  author  in  regard  to  the  reasons  for  the  consecra- 
tion-meeting.   They  are  worth  the  attention  of  all  Endeavors. 

Why  do  we  hold  the  consecration-meeting? 

* "  The   Crowning   Meeting,"  by  Amos   R.  W'ells. 


264         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands, 

"It  is  because  we  see  that  our  initial  consecration  was  only 
the  beginning,  to  be  unfolded  through  many  hard  but  blessed 
years.  We  wish  to  testify  our  constant  allegiance  to  it, — each 
one  of  us, — and  hence  the  roll-call.  We  wish  to  tell  each 
other  how  we  have. been  getting  on  in  our  lives  of  consecration, 
to  ask  advice,  to  give  it  and  receive  it;  and  so  it  is  a  testimony- 
meeting.  Most  of  all,  we  wish  to  draw  near  to  Him  whose 
we  are,  into  whom  we  are  growing;  and  so  it  is  a  prayer-meet- 
ing, and,  in  the  experience  of  many  thousands,  a  pentecostal 
meeting. 

"Magnify  this  blessed  gathering,  young  soldiers  of  the 
cross.  Enshrine  it  in  your  heart's  best  affections.  Be  true  to 
it  as  you  would  be  true  to  a  diamond-mine,  for  in  it  lie  wealth 
for  you  and  joys  you  cannot  imagine." 

The  scope  of  this  volume  does  not  allow  the  au- 
^hat  is  thor  to  devote  his  pages  to  prayer-meeting  methods 
Prayer=  or  plans.  Thcsc  wiU  be  found  elsewhere  in  large 
^^  *"^°  abundance,  but  his  design  is  to  show  what  a  good 
young  people's  prayer-meeting  may  be,  how  possible  it  is,  and 
by  the  history  of  the  past,  and  by  showing  God's  evident  bless- 
ing upon  the  new  prayer-meeting  idea,  to  stimulate  all  to  a 
larger  use  of  its  essential  features.  This  chapter  may  well  be 
concluded  with  some  forceful  definitions*  of  a  good  meeting, 
for  a  meeting  practically  defined  in  actual  experience  in  this 
way  will  be  sure  to  be  helpful  and  joyous,  and  stimulating 
to  mind  and  heart.  It  will  open  the  eyes  to  spiritual  things; 
it  will  unloose  the  tongue  to  tell  of  it;  it  will  show  the  reality 
of  the  unseen;  it  will  emphasize  practical  and  present  duties; 
it  will  nerve  the  will;  it  will  purify  the  life;  it  will  develop 
Christ-like  qualities  in  every  one  who  attends. 

"  WHAT  IS  A  GOOD  MEETING? 

"It  is  a  meeting  in  which  you  have  had  a  part. 

"It  is  a  meeting  in  which  Christ's  presence  has  been  felt. 

*  "  Tlie  Endeavorer's  Daily  Companion,"  Wells. 


The  Christian  Endeavor  Forum.  265 

"It  is  a  meeting  for  which  the  leader  has  made  careful 
preparation. 

"It  is  a  meeting  that  moves  briskly  yet  thoughtfully. 

"It  is  a  meeting  with  much  prayer. 

"It  is  a  meeting  with  much  praise. 

"It  is  a  meeting  full  of  personal  testimony. 

"It  is  a  meeting  that  emphasizes  a  few  easily  remembered 
thoughts. 

"It  is  a  meeting  that  gives  you  something  to  do  during  the 
following  week. 

"It  is  a  meeting  that  takes  one  out  of  himself. 

"It  is  a  meeting  that  brings  one  nearer  God." 


CHAPTER  XX. 

THE  SOCIETY'S  PROGRAMME  OF  WORK. 

WHEREIN  IT  IS  SHOWN  THAT  THE  CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR 
SOCIETY  IS  A  "  DO-EVERYTHING  SOCIETY,"  AND  THAT 
THROUGH  ITS  COMMITTEES  EVERYTHING  THAT  THE 
CHURCH  NEEDS  IN  THE  WAY  OF  PRACTICAL  SERVICE 
CAN  BE  ACCOMPLISHED. 

"  Christian  Endeavor  was  not  intended  to  be  an  institution, 
but  an  inspiration.  It  has  served  an  end  when  it  has  caused 
service  to  begin.  It  does  not  aim  at  triumph,  but  at  training. 
It  prefers  service  in  the  slums  to  a  seat  in  the  synagogue.  The 
greatest  word  among  its  members  to-day  is  '  service,'  and  this 
is  well.  The  spirit  of  the  pledge  —  'to  do  what  He  would 
like  to  have  me  do  ' —  is  active,  as  it  should  be.  Unless  there 
is  action  in  Christian  Endeavor  there  will  be  reaction.  The 
co-operation  of  God  is  conditioned  on  the  operation  of  men. 
The  Spirit  comes  to  those  that  go.  The  Master  has  help  for 
him  who  stumbles  in  the  path  of  duty,  but  none  for  him  who 
does  not  start."  Rev.  John  E.  Pounds,  D.D., 

Indianapolis. 

N  one  of  Miss  Frances  E.  Willard's  brilliant  ad- 
dresses at  an  International  Christian  Endeavor 
Convention  she  defended  the  "do-everything" 
policy  of  the  Woman's  Christian  Temperance 
Union,  which  had  been  criticised  by  some,  by 
declaring  that  the  liquor  curse  affected  every  department  of 
life,  and  so  the  antidote  must  reach  every  department  of  life. 

"In  the  white-ribbon  army,"  she  said,  "we  have  seventy 
distinct  lines  of  work,  and  one  of  our  mottoes  is  the  same  that 
they  had  at  the  battle  of  the  Boyne,  'Whenever  you  see  a  head, 

266 


Programme  of  Work.  267 

hit  it!'     That  means   that  we  have  adopted  the   'do-every- 
thing'  policy,  since  the  curse  is  everywhere." 

Since  the  church  of  Christ  touches  every  department  of 
life,  the  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  with  even  more  force 
can  claim  to  be  a  "do-everything"  society,  with  this  one  limi- 
tation :  it  will  do  everything  that  it  believes  the  Master  and 
the  church  would  have  it  do.  Herein  lie  its  flexibility  and 
its  strength.  It  adapts  itself  to  all  circumstances,  because 
nothing  that  is  of  real  worth  in  the  uplift  of  humanity  is  for- 
eign to  it.  It  is  interested  in  missions  abroad  and  missions  at 
home.  It  has  a  stake  in  the  temperance  issue,  and  wants  to 
see  good  men  elected  and  good  laws  enacted.     It  believes  in 

relieving  the  destitution  of  the  slums,  and  in  visit- 
The  "  Do=     ing  the  widow  and  the  fatherless  in  their  affliction. 
Sodet*'^''"^  In  looking  through  its  far-sighted  spectacles, 

however,  it  does  not  forget  that  many  of  its  duties, 
and  perhaps  its  chief  duties,  lie  nearer  home,  though  they 
may  be  but  humble  ones.  It  remembers  that  even  the  most 
sombre  pulpit  can  be  brightened  by  the  freshness  and  beauty 
of  God's  own  flowers.  It  remembers  that  the  church  services 
are  improved  by  a  harmonious  volume  of  fresh  young  voices 
in  song.  It  remembers  that  the  pastor  may  have  errands  to 
do,  and  that  the  Endeavorers  are  the  ones  to  do  them.  It  re- 
members that  its  own  meetings  need  constant  care,  fore- 
thought, and  planning  in  order  to  make  them  of  the  utmost 
value  to  all.  It  does  not  forget  that  its  young  people  have 
social  instincts  as  well  as  devotional  instincts,  and  that  these, 
too,  should  be  cultivated  and  directed  aright.  Above  all,  it 
remembers  that  the  spiritual  nature  needs  attention;  that, 
though  the  flower  will  turn  toward  the  sun  when  it  gets  a 
chance,  it  must  be  given  the  chance  and  not  be  grown  in  a 
cellar,  and  it  will  bloom  the  more  beautifully  if  watered  and 
trained  and  pruned  by  skilful  and  kindly  hands. 

So  has  come  about  the  growth  of  the  committee  system 


268 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


in  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society.    The  necessity  was  there; 
^j^^  the  Society  simply  tried  to  meet  it;  and  this  it  did 

Growth         by  establishing  as  an  integral  and  essential  part  of 

of  the  -11  •  ,- 

Committee    its  work  the  committecs,  few  or  many,  as  any  so- 

System.  ^-^^y  ^^^  ^^^^  them. 

The  first  society  in  its  earliest  days  had  but  three  com- 
mittees, the  prayer-meeting  committee,  the  social  committee, 
and  the  lookout  committee;  and  these  all  have  persisted  to  the 


Sunshine  Committee  in  Turtcey,  Reading  to    a  Blind  Old  Lady. 

present  day,  and  are  found,  it  is  altogether  probable,  in  ninety- 
nine  out  of  every  one  hundred  societies.  Their  duties,  too, 
are  defined  in  the  same  way  as  at  the  beginning;  but  it  was 
soon  found  that  these  committees  were  not  enough,  because, 
in  the  first  place,  there  were  other  duties  to  be  performed,  and 
because,  in  the  second  place,  there  were  more  young  people  to 
be  employed  than  could  find  a  place  upon  these  three  com- 
mittees. 

Missionary  work  was  a  feature  of  the  first  society  from 
the  beginning,  and  a  missionary  committee  was  naturally  very 
soon  added.  The  minister  felt  the  necessity,  too,  of  having 
some  help  from  his  young  people  in  his  pastoral  duties,  and  a 
calling  committee  was  next  introduced,  whose  duty  it  should 


Programme  of  Work.  269 

be  to  find  out  about  young  people  who  had  lately  come  into 
the  community,  or  who  had  no  other  church  home,  call  on 
them  in  their  homes  or  boarding-places,  and  try  to  induce 
them  to  come  into  the  society,  or  at  least  into  the  congregation 
and  Sunday-school. 

The  decoration  of  the  pulpit  from  Sunday  to  Sunday  and 
of  the  church  on  festival  occasions  had  been  left  to  those  who 
would  do  it,  and  often  they  were  overburdened  in  other  di- 
rections. What  was  more  natural  than  that  the  young  people 
should  undertake  this  task?  and  so  a  flower  committee  was 
formed. 

The  singing  in  the  prayer-meetings  of  the  church,  as  well 
as  in  the  young  people's  meeting,  could  certainly  be  improved. 
Many  of  the  young  men  and  women  had  good  voices,  and 
they  were  sure  to  use  them  to  better  effect  if  massed  together 
at  the  meetings.  Besides,  this  duty  gave  them  a  real  and  im- 
portant service  to  perform  for  the  church;  hence  the  genesis 
of  the  music  committee.  The  Sunday-school  might  easily  be 
enlarged  and  some  of  the  superintendent's  duties  might  be 
lightened,  and  therefore  the  Sunday-school  committee  was 
formed. 

We  need  not  go  through  the  whole  list,  for  the  natural, 
almost  inevitable  nature  of  the  whole  committee  system  is 
hereby  indicated. 
D    .  ^.  Yet  it  is  strange  what  an  inveterate  prejudice 

Prejudices  ="  r      j 

against         cxistcd  agaiust  such  committees  in  the  early  days 

Committees.  ,  ,  n  i  • 

on  the  part  of  some  most  excellent  and  emment 
men.  Mr.  Moody's  alleged  remark  was  often  quoted,  though 
I  have  often  doubted  whether  he  ever  really  made  it,  that  "the 
best  committee  is  a  committee  of  three  with  two  absent." 
If  by  this  statement,  whether  made  by  Mr.  Moody  or  by  any- 
body else,  was  meant  that  there  must  be  a  sense  of  personal 
responsibility,  or  else  the  committee  was  of  no  use,  we  must 
all  heartily  agree  with  it.     But  the  very  object  of  the  com- 


270  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands, 

mittee  system  is  to  increase  the  sense  of  responsibility,  to  make 
each  member  of  the  society  feel  that  he  has  something  impor- 
tant for  which  he  is  individually  responsible.  Everything  in 
a  well-regulated  society  tends  to  this  result — the  election ;  the 
serious  charge  of  the  president  or  pastor  to  the  committees  to 
do  their  duty;  the  frequent  meetings  of  the  committees  by 
themselves;  the  consultations  of  their  different  chairmen  with 
the  officers  and  pastors  in  the  very  important  executive  com- 
mittee; the  monthly  written  reports,  which  should  always  be 
presented,  and  afterwards  placed  on  file  for  future  reference — 
all  these  plans,  which  are  the  commonplace  features  of  the 
Christian  Endeavor  committee  system,  stimulate  and  augment 
this  very  sense  of  personal  individual  responsibility  for  the 
performance  of  particular  tasks. 

It  was  for  some  reason  felt  by  many  in  the  early  days  that 
young  people  could  not  be  expected  to  do  such  systematic 
and  regular  work,  and  that  all  their  committees  were  merely 
so  much  red  tape  or  foolish  regalia  that  might  be  dismissed 
with  a  smile.  This  was  illustrated  in  a  visit  the  writer  once 
made  to  Mr.  Spurgeon's  training-school  in  London.  He  had 
gone  at  the  invitation  of  the  great  preacher,  and  at  his  request 
had  told  the  students  something  of  the  work  and  methods  of 
the  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor.  After  telling  of  its  pur- 
pose and  its  principles,  its  prayer-meeting  and  its  early  con- 
ventions (for  this  was  in  the  first  decade  of  the  movement), 
he  began  to  enumerate  the  committees,  ''lookout  and  prayer- 
meeting  and  social."  A  smile  spread  over  the  faces  of  the 
theologues  as  he  mentioned  them;  and,  when  he  added  "mis- 
sionary and  temperance  and  good  literature,"  the  smile  be- 
came audible ;  and,  when  he  still  went  on  boldly,  and  described 
"the  calling  committee,  and  the  music  committee,  and  the 
flower  committee,"  the  laugh  could  no  longer  be  restrained, 
and  broke  out  into  a  gufifaw.  It  seemed  to  be  a  highly  amus- 
ing thing  that  young  people  should  be  expected  to  undertake 


Programme  of  Work.  271 

these  different  forms  of  work,  and  that  they  could  be  thus  or- 
ganized for  effective  service.    But  that  this  is  no  joke  has  been 
proved  ten  thousand  times  in  the  years  that  have  succeeded. 
Literature  Committees  have  been  multiplied  not  for  the 

for  sake  of  multiplying  them,  but  because  they  were 

Committees.  j     j        /-m  i  •  i  i  ,  , 

needed.  Uld  committees  have  been  strengthened, 
and  new  ways  innumerable  for  performing  their  duties  have 
been  devised.  A  great  crop  of  literature  has  sprung  up 
around  the  committee  idea,  each  committee  having  its  own 
leaflet  or  booklet,  some  of  which  have  been  translated  into 
scores  of  languages,  while  all  the  conventions,  great  and  small, 
committee  conferences,  schools  of  methods,  and  practical  in- 
stitutes for  making  the  committees  more  effective,  are  growing 
in  importance  and  power. 

But  in  this  history  we  must  concern  ourselves  more  with 
underlying  ideas  and  their  results  than  with  the  details  of 
plans  and  methods,  and  the  committee  idea  is,  as  the  very 
word  signifies,  that  something  has  been  committed  to  the  mem- 
bers to  do. 

In  that  highly  amusing  and  instructive  story  *  in  which 
Jonathan  Hayseeds,  C.  E.,  figures  so  largely  this  idea  is  hap- 
pily brought  out,  and  it  dawned  upon  Jonathan,  as  it  has  upon 
many  an  Endeavorer  in  real  life,  that,  when  he  was  elected 
upon  a  committee,  something  was  really  committed  to  him, 
and  something  that  he  must  use  his  utmost  endeavors  to  do. 

This  system  of  committees,  too,  helps  to  preserve  the 
prop€r  balance  of  prayer  and  work,  inner  devotion  and  out- 
ward service.  The  success  and  growth  of  the  Society  are  ac- 
counted for  largely  by  the  balance  it  preserves,  by  its  propor- 
tions and  symmetry.  "It  is  a  prayer-meeting  society,  but  not 
only  a  prayer-meeting  society.  It  is  a  society  for  Christian 
service,  but  not  only  for  Christian  service.  It  unites  prayer 
and  work.     It  combines  frequent  confession  of  Christ  with 

*  "  Endeavor  Doin's  Down  to  the  Corners,"  by  J.  F.  Cowan. 


272  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


The 

Proper 

Balance 


constant  service  for  Christ.  By  these  two  wings  it  has  risen 
to  constantly  new  heights  of  consecration  and  endeavor,  and  on 
these  wings  it  has  flown  around  the  world.  Clip  either  one  of 
them,  and  the  efficiency  of  the  Society  will  be  impaired;  its 
ability  to  rise  above  the  performance  of  humdrum  duties  will 
be  destroyed,  and  its  future  be  made  very  problematical. 

"On  the  other  hand,  a  society  that  remembers 
its  double  purpose,  that  observes  a  just  proportion 
between  its  prayer-meetings  and  its  committee  work 
will  not  fail  to  become  a  constantly  increasing  power  for 
good.  If  any  society  is  lagging  or  sagging,  if  its  members 
seem  to  have  lost  their  first  love  and  their  early  efficiency, 
it  is  quite  in  order  to  ask  whether  one  of  the  wings  has  not 
been  clipped;  whether  it  has  not  become  a  mere  prayer-meet- 
ing on  the  one  hand,  or  a  mere  list  of  lifeless  committees,  with- 
out the  spirit  which  the  prayer-meeting  inspires,  on  the 
other."  * 

Another  very  important  result  of  the  work  of  the  commit- 
tees is  that  it  provides  a  place  for  the  obscure,  the  diffident, 
and  the  youngest  of  all  Endeavorers.  Every  well-regulated 
society  finds  a  place  for  every  one  of  its  members  upon  some 
one  of  the  committees.     There  is  no  other  way  of  developing 

the  latent  possibilities  of  the  incon- 
spicuous. The  younger  and  the  more 
bashful  in  a  large  society  will  inevita- 
bly hide  themselves  behind  the  older 
and  more  experienced  members.  The 
very  object  of  the  whole  organization 
is  thus  defeated  unless  some  provision 
is  made  for  securing  a  share  of  respon- 
sibility, for  those  who  will  not  seek  it 
for  themselves.  "To  every  man  his 
work"  is  the  motto  of  the  Christian 
Endeavor  committee,  and  there  ought 


Rev.  Enrique  de  Tienda, 

Late  President  of  the  United 
Society  of  Christian  Endeavor 
in   Spain. 


*  Clark,   "  The  Christian  Endeavor  Manual." 


Programme  of  Work.  273 

to  be  ingenuity  enough  in  every  society  to  find  some  task  suita- 
ble to  the  very  youngest  and  least  experienced.  Much,  of 
course,  depends  upon  the  chairmen  of  the  different  commit- 
tees, but  with  reasonable  resourcefulness  and  devotion  on 
their  part  and  on  the  part  of  the  society  at  large  no  one  need  be 
left  out  of  this  most  blessed  of  all  privileges,  the  privilege  of 
individual  service  for  Christ  and  the  church. 

This  is  further  accomplished  in  some  churches,  and  very 
wisely,  by  bringing  together  the  youngest  members  in  some 
more  general  committee,  and  putting  them  under  the  care  of 
one  of  the  most  experienced  Endeavorers.  Thus  the  boys  on 
entering  the  society,  e&pecially  if  they  are  quite  young,  or 
have  just  graduated  from  the  Juniors,  may  be  put  upon  the 
'4end-a-hand  committee,"  and  the  girls  in  like  manner  upon 
the  "whatsoever  committee."  As  the  names  indicate,  what- 
soever is  needed,  they  are  expected  to  do,  and  to  lend  a  hand 
wherever  it  is  wanted.  Thus,  in  preparing  the  vestry  for  the 
social  meeting,  taking  the  chairs  out  of  their  stifif  rows  and 
putting  them  in  social  proximity,  mending  the  hymn-books, 
sending  out  church  papers  and  notices,  doing  any  of  the  num- 
berless errands  or  little  tasks  that  are  always  arising  in  church 
life,  these  youngest  members  can  be  utilized,  given  something 
that  is  really  important  to  do,  and,  above  all,  trained  to  a  sense 
of  their  individual  responsibility,  and  fitted  for  larger  duties 
that  may  devolve  upon  them. 

Enough  has  been  said,  perhaps,  to  show  that 
Service^'  the  Committees  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  society 
open  it  on  every  side  to  practical  service.  It  stands 
foursquare  toward  all  possible  duties  that  can  devolve  upon  the 
young  Christian.  Its  doors  open  hospitably  out  as  well  as  in, 
and  it  tells  all  its  members  to  show  their  faith  by  their  works. 
Not  only  does  it  give  this  general  exhortation,  which  would 
often  be  utterly  meaningless  to  the  unresourceful  young  per- 
son, but  it  tells  him  just  how  and  when  and  where  to  work. 

18 


274         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

It  does  not  leave  him  to  his  own  unguided  impulses,  which 
would  probably  lead  him  nowhere;  but  it  shows  him  practical 
duties  exactly  suited  to  his  capacities ;  it  makes  the  society  in- 
finitely varied,  and  it  prevents  it  from  falling  into  ruts  or  from 
becoming  stereotyped.  A  committee  needed  in  one  society  is 
not  needed  by  its  next-door  neighbor;  a  committee  that  has 
done  a  good  work  this  year,  perhaps,  can  be  replaced  by  one 
that  will  do  better  work  next  year,  and  in  the  executive  com- 
mittee provision  is  made  for  keeping  all  up  to  the  highest 
point  of  efficiency,  if  only  the  plans  and  methods  which  have 
been  proved  and  tried  and  published  are  used. 

In  a  word,  the  committees  and  all  that  they  stand  for 
constitute  a  practical  programme  of  the  Christian  Endeavor 
movement.  In  an  enthusiastic  article  summing  up  the  results 
of  the  World's  Convention  in  London  in  1900,  The  Christian 
World,  one  of  the  most  influential  papers  in  Great  Britain, 
thus  speaks  of  this  practical  programme: 

"From  the  Continent  and  from  Australia,  from  America's 
farthest  West,  from  Africa  and  from  India,  the  glad  multi- 
tudes have  come  together  to  praise  and  to  pray,  to  devise 
schemes  for  the  world's  betterment,  to  draw  up  the  Christian 
programme  for  the  twentieth  century.  It  is  a  marvellous 
spectacle.  Even  the  newspapers  are  captured,  and  confess 
that  this  is  a  big  thing.  Religion  is  booming  in  London  to- 
day. .  .  .  The  Christian  Endeavor  movement  is  the  em-| 
bodiment  of  the  practical  view  of  religion.  It  has  all  the 
courage  of  its  youth.  It  has  a  social  programme  which  is  a 
menace  to  vice  of  every  kind.  It  has  a  business  and  political 
programme  which  aims  at  clean-handedness,  fair  play,  and 
pure  ideals  in  both  departments.  It  wants  war  against  war, 
and  brotherly  love  in  all  international  dealings.  It  may  not 
get  all  it  wants  all  at  once,  but  its  enthusiasm  is  good  to  see  and 
good  to  feel.  One  realizes  that  new  blood  is  running  in  the 
old  world's  veins,  and  that  its  pulse  beats  healthily.  The  En- 
deavorer's  dream  of  to-day  will  be  the  established  fact  of  to- 
morrow, its  castles  in  the  air  solidly  planted  in  granite  on  the 
ground." 


CHAPTER  XXL 
THE  SOCIETY  AND  ITS  RELATIONS. 

IN  WHICH  IT  IS  SHOWN  THAT  THE  SOCIETY  IS  A  LOYAL 
MEMBER  OF  THE  CHURCH  FAMILY,  FAITHFUL  TO  ITS 
OWN  LOCAL  CHURCH  AND  DENOMINATION  AND 
ALWAYS  ON  AFFECTIONATE  TERMS  WITH  ITS  SISTER 
THE  SUNDAY-SCHOOL  AND  ITS  KINDRED  IN  THE 
CHURCH  AND  OUT. 

"  Twice  two  in  spiritual  arithmetic  are  more  than  plus  two. 
According  to  the  promise,  if  one  can  chase  a  thousand,  two  can 
put  not  two  thousand,  but  ten  thousand  to  flight.  Twice  two 
are  ten.  The  Sunday-school  multiplied  by  Christian  Endeavor 
is  a  great  deal  more  than  the  Sunday-school  plus  Christian 
Endeavor.  Added,  they  are  four  colors;  multiplied,  they  are  a 
cathedral  window."  Rev.  F.  N.  Peloubet. 

I         "  The  church  is  the  tree,  and  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society 
\  is  only  one  of  its  branches.     There  are  not  two  trees." 

Rev.  Ernest  Bourner  Allen. 

HE  relationships  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  So- 
ciety have  never  been  in  doubt.  It  was  not  a 
foundling  left  upon  a  door-step,  but  was  legiti- 
mately born  into  the  church  family,  though,  to 
be  sure,  in  a  somewhat  obscure  and  inconspicu- 
ous church  family,  nor  has  it  ever  wavered  in  its  allegiance  to 
its  mother,  or  failed  in  generous  affection  for  its  brothers  and 
sisters. 

From  the  very  beginning  it  has  maintained  that  it  was 
in  the  church  and  of  the  church  and  for  the  church.  Its 
motto,*  "For  Christ  and  the  Church,"  proposed  at  one  of  the 

*  Rev.  N.  F.  Nickerson  of  Erie,  Mich.,  writes  that  this  motto  was  quoted 
by  the  author  at  the  first  Saratoga  convention  (1886)  as  having  been  seen  by  him 
on  a  Christian  Endeavor  banner,  and  that  he  (Mr.  N.)  proposed  its  adoption.     It 

275 


276         christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

very  earliest  conventions,  has  been  the  theme  for  innumerable 
addresses,  the  subject  of  many  a  poem,  and  the  inspiring  idea 
in  thousands  of  conventions.  The  writer  has  seen  it  in  scores 
of  languages,  on  topic-cards  and  programmes,  in  letters  of 
flowers  and  greenery  on  church  walls,  and  often  indelibly 
wrought  into  the  beautiful  stained-glass  windows  presented 
by  the  society  to  the  church. 

When  the  church  is  considered  as  a  family  instead  of 
simply  as  the  mother  of  the  family,  the  idea  has  been  confused 
in  many  minds,  and  the  word  "relation"  is  not  always  properly 
applied.  As  the  author  has  before  written,  "  'The  relation  of 
the  Society  to  the  church'  has  been  discussed  innumerable 
times,  sometimes  by  hostile  critics,  sometimes  by  friendly  ad- 
vocates of  the  Society;  and  it  has  been  too  often  assumed, 
without  argument  and  without  justification,  that  it  is  some- 
thing apart  from  and  one  side  of  the  church.  It  is  a  'rela- 
tion, a  poor  relation,  a  young  relation,  a  relation  that  needs 
to  be  rebuffed,  or  a  relation  that  needs  a  little  patronizing  ap- 
proval. But  until  we  find  out  what  relation  the  child  is  to 
the  family,  until  we  can  properly  speak  of  the  relation  of 
the  finger  to  the  hand,  we  cannot  with  exactness  talk  about 
the  relation  of  the  Society  to  the  church. 

"What,  pray,  is  the  church?     Is  it  a  certain 
is  the  number  of  the  older  members?     Is  it  the  congre- 

gation that  gathers  to  hear  the  pastor's  Sunday- 
morning  sermon  or  to  engage  in  the  evening  service?  Is  it 
the  midweek  prayer-meeting? 

"Yes,  it  is  all  these  and  more.  The  church  is  the  local 
body  of  Christ's  followers  who  worship  Sunday  morning  and 
Sunday  evening.  The  church  is  the  people  at  prayer  in  the 
midweek  service.     The  Sunday-school  is  the  church  giving 

was  not  formally  adopted,  but  gradually  became  the  accepted  motto  of  the 
Society.  At  the  top  of  the  first  convention  programme  of  the  New  York  State 
Union  appeared  the  motto,  "  For  Christ  and  the   Church." 


Programme  of  Work.  277 

and  receiving  instruction.  The  sewing-circle,  if  composed  of 
godly  women,  is  the  church  working  for  the  poor.  The  mis- 
sionary society  is  the  church  praying  for  and  giving  for  the 
advancement  and  extension  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 

"The  Christian  Endeavor  Society  is  the  church  training/ 
and  being  trained  for  practical  service  in  the  Kingdom.* 

The  child  in  the  family  is  the  exact  analogy  of  the  young 
people's  society  in  the  church,  and  for  the  most  part  the 
Christian  Endeavor  Society  has  been  a  loving  child  and  most 
affectionately  treated.  To  be  sure,  it  has  sometimes  shared 
the  disadvantages  and  received  the  rebukes  that  most  steady 
and  conscientious  children  who  always  stay  at  home  receive. 
There  is  a  glamour  about  the  prodigal  and  his  return,  which 
is  more  apt  to  invest  him  with  the  best  robe  and  the  ring  than 
the  steady  elder  brother;  but  that  is  no  reason  why  the  elder 
brother  should  be  singled  out  for  special  reproaches.  It  has , 
sometimes  been  a  little  trying  to  Endeavorers  to  be  scolded 
roundly  for  not  attending  the  Sunday-evening  service  and  the 
midweek  prayer-meeting  when  other  young  people  of  the 
congregation  and  members  of  the  church,  who  have  practi- 
cally the  same  obligation,  were  allowed  to  go  scott-free  from 
all  reproach,  and  when  no  word  of  exhortation  was  given 
to  the  older  members  and  office-bearers  of  the  church  for 
the  same  dereliction. 

The  reason  is  very  plain ;  the  Endeavorers  have  set  up  for ' 
themselves  a  high  and  definite  standard  of  loyalty;  they  have 
promised  to  attend  the  regular  church  services  unless  excused 
by  conscience  upon  a  direct  appeal  to  their  Master.  They 
are  judged  by  this  standard  as  they  ought  to  be,  but,  after  all. 
Some  Un=  it  is  really  no  higher  than  that  contained  in  the 
Ex^ecta^'^  Covenant  of  every  church-member,  though  it  is 
tions.  more  definite  and  specific.     Sometimes  the  elders 

give  altogether  too  little  thought  to  the  qualifying  clause  of 

*  "  World-Wide   Endeavor." 


278         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

the  covenant  pledge,  which  would  otherwise  be  entirely  un- 
reasonable, that  these  duties  will  be  performed  and  these  serv- 
ices attended  unless  the  member  is  prevented  by  an  excuse 
which  he  can  give  to  the  Master. 

Now  and  then,  no  doubt,  this  excuse  is  stretched  to  cover 
reasons  which  the  conscience  ought  not  to  allow;  but  it  is 
a  vast  advance  step  to  make  such  matters  a  question  of  con- 
science at  all,  not  to  leave  them  to  haphazard  of  weather  and 
inclination,  not  to  make  duty  the  football  of  circumstances,  but 
to  feel,  as  every  Christian  Endeavorer  must:  *'The  presump- 
tion is  in  favor  of  this  duty,  it  shall  be  my  habitual  practice  to 
perform  it.  I  will  not  ask  why  I  should  do  it,  but  rather  why 
I  should  not  do  it."  Many  weak  and  frivolous  excuses  will 
fall  before  this  test;  only  fhe  better  reasons  are  likely  to  stand 
it. 

But,  even  when  tested  by  practical  experience  and  sta- 
tistics, the  showing  is  entirely  favorable  for  the  active  mem- 
bers of  the  Endeavor  Society  throughout  the  world.  On  two 
separate  occasions  statistics  have  been  gathered  from  far  and 
near;  ministers  of  all  denominations,  to  the  number  of  sev- 
eral thousand,  have  been  asked  in  regard  to  the  attendance  of 
the  active  members  upon  the  Sunday-evening  and  midweek 
services  of  the  church.  Their  replies  have  been 
Tests.'  tabulated,  and  have  been  found  on  each  occasion  to 

indicate  that  almost  twice  as  many  members  of 
the  Christian  Endeavor  society  attended  these  services  as  of 
all  the  members  of  the  church. 

Seventy-six  per  cent  and  fifty-seven  per  cent  were  the  av- 
erage of  these  counts  for  the  attendance  of  the  Endeavorers  re- 
spectively at  the  Sunday-evening  and  the  midweek  services 
of  the  church.  Forty-six  per  cent  and  twenty-eight  per  cent 
were  the  averages  for  all  the  church-members,  old  and  young, 
for  these  same  services.  If  the  question  had  been  asked  how 
large  a  percentage  of  the  older  members  of  the  church  aside 


Programme  of  Work.  279 

from  the  Christian  Endeavorers  attend  these  services,  the  per- 
centage would  have  been  reduced  to  a  pitiably  small  one  in 
many  churches.  It  is  necessary  only  to  add  that  these  figures 
have  been  obtained  almost  entirely  from  pastors  and  churches 
that  were  not  known  by  the  author,  and  that  the  averages 
were  made  up  by  compilers  who  had  no  thought  of  "making 
out  a  case,"  and  who  could  not  have  done  so  from  the  data 
furnished  if  they  had  desired. 

More  recently  Professor  Wells  has  received  answers  to  a  ! 
long  series  of  questions  from  more  than  1,800  pastors  of  every 
denomination,  and  the  almost  universal  testimony  of  these  pas- 
tors is  that  their  Endeavorers  are  loyal  to  the  backbone. 

If  the  local  church  is  the  mother  of  the  Society,  the  de- 
nomination has  sometimes  proved  to  be  the  stepmother,  and 
not  always  a  very  kindly  one.  The  first  serious  objections  to 
the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  came  from  denomina- 
tional headquarters,  and  the  only  determined  effort  to  injure 
it  or  supplant  it  has  come  from  the  same  sources. 

Denomina=  ^^  ,       .         ,  ,        ,  ,  . 

tionai  It  was  thought  m  the  early  days  that  m  some 

jec  ions,  ^^y  interdenominational  fellowship  must  weaken 
denominational  loyalty,  that  the  young  Christians  of  many 
denominations  could  not  learn  to  know  and  love  one 
another  better  without  learning  at  the  same  time  to  know 
and  love  their  own  denomination  less.  The  publishing- 
house  and  the  denominational  paper  sometimes  figured  largely 
in  this  opposition  to  the  interdenominational  movement,  and 
at  first  every  new  publication  of  the  United  Society  and  every 
issue  of  The  Golden  Rule  were  looked  upon  with  suspicion 
and  distrust  by  some. 

But  now,  happily,  this  is  very  largely  changed,  except 
in  one  or  two  instances.  The  denominations  at  large,  as  well 
as  the  local  churches,  have  come  to  perceive  that  the  Christian 
Endeavor  Society  is  a  genuine  and  loyal  helper  of  all  their 
enterprises,  as  proud  of  the  history  of  the  past,  as  faithful  to 


zSo         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

the  work  of  the  present,  as  any  purely  denominational  society 
can  be. 

In  fact,  a  number  of  sects  that  twenty  years  ago  resolved 
to  have  a  purely  denominational  society  of  their  own  have 
heartily  and  unreservedly  come  into  the  Christian  Endeavor 
movement.  The  Advocates  of  Christian  Fidelity  in  the  Free 
Baptist  churches,  for  instance,  have  almost  all  become  Christ- 
ian Endeavor  societies.  Many  of  the  smaller  denominations 
have  accepted  bodily  the  interdenominational  name  for  their 
young  people,  while  a  number  of  the  larger  ones,  like  the 
Presbyterians,  Disciples  of  Christ,  and  Congregationalists, 
have  practically  never  had  any  other  organization.  Still 
others  have  added  the  Christian  Endeavor  name  to  their  de- 
nominational name,  like  the  Keystone  Leagues  of  Christian 
Endeavor  of  the  United  Evangelical  churches,  and  the  Ep- 
worth  Leagues  of  Christian  Endeavor  of  Canada. 

During  the  last  few  years  the  denominational 

Denomina=  •^-       *      r  ^t  ^  i         u  ^-       t       i 

tionai  recognition*  of  the  movement  has  been   particularly 

tSon^^"'^  gratifying.  It  is  supposed  by  many  people  in  the 
United  States  that  the  Christian  Endeavor  move- 
ment is  represented  but  very  little  if  at  all  in  the  Methodist 
Church,  whereas,  take  it  the  world  over,  that  is  one  of  the  lead- 
ing Christian  Endeavor  denominations.  The  Australasian 
Methodist  Church,  constituted  by  the  happy  union  of  the  six 
different  denominations  that  followed  Wesley's  teachings,  at 
their  last  conference  adopted  Christian  Endeavor  as  a  neces- 
sary and  useful  part  of  their  church  machinery.  It  is  ex- 
pected that  a  Christian  Endeavor  society  will  be  formed  in 
every  Australian  Methodist  church,  and  the  consecration- 
meeting  is  adopted  as  the  class-meeting  for  the  young  people. 

*  The  (Dutch)  Reformed  Church  of  America  was  doubtless  the  first  one  to 
give  official  recognition  to  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society.  Many  others  have 
since  followed  this  example,  including  the  Disciples  of  Christ,  Cumberland  Presby- 
terians, Friends,  Primitive  Methodists,  Methodist  Protestant,  African  Methodist 
Episcopal,  and  Zion  churches,  and  many  others  in  Great  Britain  and  Australia 
as  well   as  America. 


The  Society  and  its  Relations.  281 

The  questions  asked  at  the  Quarterly  Conferences  and  at  the 
General  Conference  relate  among  other  things  to  the  estab- 
lishment and  welfare  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society, 
which  is  taken  for  granted  as  much  as  the  Sunday-school. 

In  the  official  resolutions  at  a  late  meeting  of  the  Primi- 
tive Methodist  Church  of  Great  Britain  we  read  that  "the 
Conference  learns  with  much  satisfaction  of  the  continued 
growth  of  Christian  Endeavor.  The  Conference  rejoices  to 
learn  that  the  increase  has  spread  over  the  whole  connection, 
and  thus  reveals  that  the  work  among  the  young  people  is  in 
a  healthy  and  progressive  condition."  In  this  denomination 
alone  in  Great  Britain  are  more  than  three  thousand  societies 
and  more  than  one  hundred  thousand  members. 

The  Methodist  New  Connection  Conference  has  recently 
spoken  in  the  same  way,  saying:  "This  Conference  heartily 
recognizes  the  large  benefit  secured  to  our  young  people  and 
the  churches  of  the  denomination  through  the  Christian  En- 
deavor movement,  and,  after  more  than  ten  years'  connectional 
oversight  and  direction,  affirms  most  cordially  that  in  this 
spiritual  agency  there  are  untold  opportunities  of  fellowship, 
church  loyalty,  and  Christian  activity.  It  moreover  rejoices 
in  the  bond  of  sympathy  in  service  which  binds  our  young 
people  to  those  of  other  churches,  and  views  with  deep  pleas- 
ure the  unity  of  this  movement,  not  only  in  this  country,  but 
also  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  in  our  colonies,  in  the  mission 
fields,  and  throughout  the  world." 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  testimonies  of  this  sort  from 
a  Methodist  source  was  recently  written  by  the  secretary  of 
the  Methodist  Church  of  Australia  in  New  Zealand. 

"About  fifteen  years  ago  our  work  among  the  young  peo- 
ple was  in  a  very  unsatisfactory  condition.  While  we  had  our 
system  of  class-meetings,  including  young  people's  classes,  these 
were  very  poorly  availed  of,  and  the  question  of  how  to  nourish 
the  young  life  of  the  church  presented  a  very  serious  problem. 


282 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


Since  the  establishment  of  Christian  Endeavor  societies  among 
us  there  has  been  little  short  of  a  revolution.  Work  among 
and  by  the  young  people  is  to-day  one  of  the  leading  features 
of  our  church  life.  There  was  never  such  a  large  proportion 
of  young  people  in  our  congregations  and  in  our  church-mem- 
bership as  we  have  to-day.  The  church  courts  have  recog- 
nized the  value  and  importance  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  so- 


The  Methodist  Episcopal   Christian   Endeavor   Society  of   Barcelona,    Spain. 

cieties  by  adopting  a  rule  declaring  that  all  active  members 
who  so  desire  shall  be  recognized  as  church-members,  subjectj 
of  course,  to  their  observance  of  the  usual  conditions  of 
church-membership." 

^.     P  ^  The  Endeavorers  have  responded  most  heartily 

deavorers'     to  the  Confidence  and  affection  thus  expressed  by 

Response.        .1     •       i  •         •         1  1  1 

their  denominational  superiors,  and  as  a  natural  re- 
sult the  Methodist  Church  of  Australia  is  a  leading  factor  in 


The  Society  and  its  Relations.  283 

this  interdenominational  movement,  through  it  influencing  all 
the  other  churches  for  good. 

In  many  denominations,  like  the  Reformed,  the  Disciples 
of  Christ,  the  Cumberland  Presbyterians,  and  the  Congrega- 
tionalists,  the  Endeavorers  have  built  churches,  in  some  cases 
a  goodly  number  of  them,  and  thus  have  strengthened  the  de- 
nominational forces. 

Among  the  Presbyterians  eighty  foreign  missionaries 
have  been  supported  wholly  or  in  part  in  a  single  year  by  the 
Endeavorers  of  the  denomination. 

The  English  Baptist  Endeavorers  have  raised  twenty-five 
thousand  dollars  for  the  steamer  "Endeavor,"  which  plies  the 
Congo. 

The  Primitive  Methodist  Endeavorers  of  Great  Britain 
are  building  a  missionary  training-school  in  Western  Africa. 

Thus  we  might  go  on  through  the  list  if  it  were  necessary, 
to  show  how  the  Endeavor  Society  has  responded  to  the  in- 
creasing confidence  of  the  denominational  leaders. 

Oftentimes  the  society,  especially  in  rural  com- 
Sunday=  munitics,  has  laid  upon  it  the  responsibility  for  the 
SerJice^  Sunday-evening  service,  a  responsibility  which 
helps  it  quite  as  much  as  it  helps  the  service,  which, 
indeed,  has  often  been  revivified  in  this  way.  In  fact.  Dr. 
Charles  M.  Sheldon,  the  noted  author,  who  among  his  per- 
sonal friends  is  quite  as  much  honored  for  his  pastoral  insight 
and  his  practical  philanthropy  as  for  his  literary  skill,  advo- 
cates most  strongly  the  making  of  the  Sunday-evening  service 
a  distinctively  Christian  Endeavor  service,  with  a  brief  ad- 
dress from  the  pastor  at  the  end,  after  participation  by  all  the 
members.  Much  time  is  often  taken,  too,  for  social  inter- 
course and  for  evangelistic  effort,  and  Dr.  Sheldon  declares 
this  to  be  the  most  fruitful  service  of  the  week  in  building  up 
the  church,  and  recommends  it  heartily  to  his  brother  pastors. 

Often  in  the  interregnum  between  pastors  the  Christian 


284         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

Endeavor  society  has  stood  in  the  breach,  and  has  proved  es- 
pecially useful  in  holding  the  church  together  and  binding  the 
young  people  to  it  more  heartily.  Hundreds  of  practical  in- 
stances like  the  following  have  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
writer  during  the  last  five  and  twenty  years. 

''Some  years  ago,"  writes  a  pastor  in  New  York  State,  "I 
was  invited  to  supply  for  a  Sunday  the  pulpit  of  a  church 
which  was  sufTering  from  'internal  dissensions.'  I  learned 
afterward  that  the  Sunday  previous  to  my  visit  a  business- 
meeting  had  been  called  to  consider  the  question  of  closing  the 
church  doors. 

"A  determined  band  of  young  people  said,  'These  doors 
must  not  be  closed.'  The  vote,  when  taken,  resulted  in  a  ma- 
jority of  one  for  the  open  door.  The  Christian  Endeavor  so- 
ciety had  funds  in  their  treasury,  and  said,  'We  will  pay  the 
expenses  of  a  supply  for  the  pulpit  as  long  as  our  money  lasts.' 

"I  was  asked  to  come  the  second  Sunday,  and  another,  and 
another,  until  seven  weeks  had  passed.  By  that  time  the  dis- 
turbing element  had  passed  away;  old  feuds  were  forgotten  in 
nev/  activities;  and  I  was  asked  to  accept  the  permanent  pas- 
torate of  the  church  by  a  unanimous  vote. 

"The  church  to-day  is  in  the  care  of  another  and  a  better 
pastor,  has  made  many  material  improvements  in  its  church 
property,  and  is  a  vigorous  and  telling  power  for  good  in  the 
community.  It  is  my  opinion  that  the  Christian  Endeavor 
society  saved  it." 

The  sisters  of  the  society  are  the  other  organi- 
Sisters  zations  in  the  same  church,  and  to  all  these  the  En- 
^  ^^^  deavor  society  owes  and,  I  believe,  has  given  love 

and  service.  The  older  sisters,  like  the  women's 
societies,  the  Dorcas  societies,  and  the  Maternal  Association, 
have  never  been  inclined  to  "boss"  this  younger  sister,  but 
have  very  often  given  and  received  genuine  help.  Indeed,  the 
Mothers'  Association  is  often  a  kind  of  foster-mother  to  the 
Junior  Endeavor  society,  and  sometimes  even  takes  its  name, 
and  becomes  a  Mothers'  Endeavor  society,  the  Juniors  giving 


The  Society  and  its  Relations.  285 

the  mothers  an  opportunity  such  as  they  have  never  had  before 
to  pray  for  and  with  the  boys  and  girls,  and  to  work  among 
them. 

But  especially  for  the  Sunday-school  sister  has  Christian 
Endeavor,  as  was  natural,  shown  the  most  affection.  The 
Sunday-school  was  nearer  its  own  age,  though,  paradoxical  as 
it  may  sound,  born  almost  exactly  a  hundred  years  earlier;  but 
its  primary  purpose  was  to  instruct  the  boys  and  girls,  as  a 
primary  purpose  of  the  Endeavor  society  is  to  train  them. 
Most  cordial  have  always  been  the  relations  of  these  "twin 
sisters"  in  the  church  family.  The  vast  majority  of  Endeavor- 
ers,  ninety-five  out  of  one  hundred  probably,  are  Sunday- 
school  teachers  or  scholars.  The  interests  of  one  organiza- 
tion are  the  interests  of  the  other,  and  yet  neither  has  tried  to 
usurp  the  duties  of  the  other.  One  puts  emphasis  upon  in- 
struction, the  other  upon  training;  and,  though  these  two  fea- 
tures are  joined  closely  together  and  sometimes  dovetail  into 
one  another,  the  duties  and  limits  of  each  are  easily  under- 
stood. 

In  a  hundred  ways  the  Endeavor  society  can  be  helpful  to 
the  Sunday-school,  and  many  of  the  societies  have  Sunday- 
school  committees  especially  for  the  purpose  of  enlarging  and 
improving  the  school  and  aiding  the  superintendent  and 
teachers  in  any  possible  way,  while  the  Sunday-school  is,  and 
naturally  always  will  be,  a  great  recruiting-ground  of  the  so- 
The  ci^ty. 

Prosperity  It  is  a  notable  and  easily  authenticated  fact  that 

Sunday=  the  ycars  of  greatest  activity  of  the  Sunday-school 
School.  movement  have  coincided  with  the  later  and  most 
prosperous  years  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society.  One 
seems  to  have  stimulated  the  other.  In  America,  at  least,  the 
Sunday-school  conventions  were  never  so  large  and  influential 
as  to-day,  and  in  many  lines  the  Sunday-school  movement 
seems  to  have  taken  on  new  life  and  vigor. 


286  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands, 

If  the  Sunday-school  is  the  sister  of  the  young  people's 
society,  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  is  a  brother  of 
kindred  purpose,  though  of  different  method;  and  between 
these  two  most  friendly  relations  have  always  existed.  In  va- 
rious ways  they  have  been  able  to  help  each  other,  and  recep- 
tions given  by  the  Association  to  the  Endeavor  society  have 
often  been  returned  when  the  society  has  opened  its  doors  to 
the  Association.  In  fact,  in  many  cities  the  leaders  in  the  one 
are  also  enthusiastic  leaders  in  the  other  organiza- 

The  • 

Y.  M.  c.  A.  tion.  The  highest  officer  in  the  American  Associa- 
y"p*s^c  e  ^^^^^  recently  said  to  the  writer  that  what  was  true 
of  the  Sunday-school  was  also  true  of  the  Associa- 
tion; its  most  prosperous  quarter-century  has  been  the  last; 
its  best  decade  has  been  the  last,  and  he  added  that,  if  anything 
was  needed  to  prove  the  mutually  helpful  relations  of  one  or- 
ganization to  the  other,  that  was  sufficient. 

Most  Association  men  desire  that  all  local  church  so- 
cieties, especially  those  composed  of  both  sexes,  should  become 
Christian  Endeavor  societies,  while  to  the  Association  should 
be  left  the  general  field  outside  of  local  church  affiliations,  in 
other  words,  that  the  Association  should  stand  in  loco  parentis 
to  the  unchurched  young  men,  having  for  their  leaders,  of 
course,  church-members,  and  always  working  in  fullest  sympa- 
thy and  co-operation  with  the  church.  This  is  the  field  the 
Association  already  occupies  in  America  and  Great  Britain, 
and  it  is  hoped  that  this  will  soon  be  true  on  the  continent  of 
Europe. 

For  strictly  denominational  societies  Christian  Endeavor- 
ers  have  only  good  will  and  fraternal  feeling,  while  indulging 
in  the  earnest  hope  that  one  of  these  days  they  will  all  see 
their  way,  as  most  already  have,  to  come  into  closer  fellowship 
with  the  world's  interdenominational  young  people's  move- 
ment. 

The  Christian  Endeavor  Society  also  has   cousins  and 


The  Society  and  its  Relations.  287 

aunts  and  remote  relations  among  the  many  organizations  for 
women  and  men  that  are  seeking  to  lift  up  humanity,  relieve 
suffering,  and  bless  the  world.  To  these  all  the  Endeavor  so- 
cieties acknowledge  their  indebtedness,  and  rejoice  in  their  re- 
lationship. To  them  all  Christian  Endeavor  says,  "God- 
speed," and,  wherever  their  allies  are  fighting  the  one  great 
battle,  Endeavorers  re-echo  Miss  Willard's  eloquent  words 
with  which  she  closed  an  address  at  a  Christian  Endeavor  con- 
vention : 

"General  Phil  Sheridan  in  the  great  crisis  of  one  of  his 
battles  saw  that  the  enemy  wavered;  he  saw  that  his  hour  had 
come,  and  in  his  dashing  fashion  he  cried  out,  'Let  everything 
go  in — artillery,  engineers,  bands  of  music,  cavalry,  infantry, 
everybody.'  Your  Christian  Endeavor  sends  out  the  same 
cry.  I  thank  God  that  you  send  it.  Flying  cavalry  of  youth, 
go  in;  let  the  artillery  of  argument  go  in;  let  the  women  and 
children  go  in;  and  out  from  the  climax  of  the  battle,  by 
Christ's  dear  grace,  shall  come  a  protected  home  and  a  re- 
deemed republic,  which  Christ  shall  rule  in  custom  and  law." 


CHAPTER  XXII. 
BACK  CURRENTS  AND  EDDIES. 

THE  OBJECTORS  AND  OBJECTIONS  TO  THE  CHRISTIAN 
ENDEAVOR  SOCIETY  ARE  TREATED  IN  THIS  CHAPTER, 
AND  IT  IS  SHOWN  THAT  IT  IS  GOOD  FOR  A  IVIOVEMENT 
TO  BEAR  THE  YOKE  OF  CRITICISM  IN  ITS  YOUTH. 

"  Every  new  and  successful  organization  must  pass  through 
three  stages  of  development,  the  '  pooh-pooh  stage,'  when  many 
people  sneer  at  it,  the  '  bow-wow  stage,'  when  many  growl  at 
it,  and  the  '  hear,  hear  stage,'  when  most  applaud  it.  Christian 
Endeavor  has  already  passed  through  the  first  two  of  these 
stages,  and  in  most  lands  has  now  reached  the  third." 

Rev.   Joseph   Broivn    Aiorgan. 

'VERY  great  river,  especially  if  it  flows  with  a 
^J  swift,  impetuous  current,  has  here  and  there  a 
back-set  or  an  eddy,  where  for  a  little  space  the 
current  seems  to  be  flowing  in  the  opposite  direc- 
tion. A  stick  of  wood  thrown  into  the  stream 
above  Niagara  Falls,  when  it  reaches  the  bottom,  whirls 
around  and  around,  as  if  uncertain  which  way  to  go,  until, 
taken  up  by  the  resistless  force  of  the  current,  it  is  at  last 
borne  on  and  down  to  the  smoother  reaches  of  the  great  river. 
So  with  the  Christian  Endeavor  stream;  it  has  had  its  back 
currents  and  its  local  eddies,  which  for  a  time  have  caused 
its  friends  to  grieve  and  its  few  opponents  to  say,  "I  told  you 
sol" 

It  may  have  seemed  from  preceding  chapters  that  there 
had  never  been  a  break  in  its  prosperity,  or  an  unkindly  critic 
to  disturb  the  serenity  of  its  work.  But  in  this  history,  since 
it  aims  to  be  a  chronicle  of  the  first  twenty-five  years  of  the 

288 


Back  Currents  and  Eddies.  289 

movement,  and  not  a  panegyric,  it  must  be  recorded  that  the 
Christian  Endeavor  river  did  not  always  flow  through  flower- 
decked  meadows  and  under  unclouded  skies. 

The  societies  themselves,  of  course,  were  not  always  free 
from  blame  for  their  difficulties.  They  were  largely  made  up 
of  young  people,  and  of  imperfect  young  people,  young 
people,  to  be  sure,  whose  intentions  were  almost  uniformly 
good,  but  whose  judgment  was  not  mature,  and  who  needed 
kindly  and  patient  oversight.  In  some  societies  was  found  the 
^^g  young    man    more    rarely   the   young   woman,    af- 

Disease  flictcd  with  the  uncomfortable  disease  megalomania, 
Megaio=  more  popularly  and  vulgarly  known  as  "the  big 
mama.  head."     It  was   impossible   to   teach   these   youths 

anything  from  the  experience  of  the  past,  as  has  been  said. 
"They  insisted  sometimes  upon  forming  their  societies  without 
a  pledge,  without  a  consecration-meeting,  and  without  a  look- 
out committee,  and  would  blandly  inform  those  who  had  long 
experience  in  the  work  that  such  rules  and  regulations,  though 
they  might  be  well  enough  for  some,  seemed  to  them  childish, 
and  'could  not  be  adopted  by  our  young  people.'  " 

However,  these  diseases,  natural  to  childhood,  were  com- 
paratively rare,  and  caused  but  very  few  deaths.  The  funda- 
mental ideas  of  the  Society,  especially  the  deeply  imbedded 
principle  of  loyalty  to  the  local  church,  and  the  rules  provid- 
ing for  the  oversight  and  veto  power  of  the  church  and  pastor 
in  all  important  matters,  reduced  to  the  minimum  all  these 
natural  difficulties  inherent  in  the  young  people's  organiza- 
tion. 

They  could  not,  however,  forefend  the  attacks  of  the  more 
or  less  well-informed  critics,  who  felt  it  their  duty  to  guard 
the  Society  against  the  curse  pronounced  upon  those  of  whom 
all  men  speak  well.  Some  of  the  leaders  of  the  movement 
who  are  not  famous  for  rhinoceros  hides  have  winced  cruelly 
under  these  attacks,  which  it  often  has  not  been  possible  to 
19 


290         christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

meet  without  seeming  over-sensitive  or  unduly  anxious  to 
"steady  the  ark." 

Very  early  in  the  history  of  the  Society  the  critics  began 
to  sharpen  their  knives,  some  of  them  thinking  to  make  an 
easy  end  of  "the  young  upstart,"  as  he  was  once  politely  called. 
A  year  after  the  formation  of  the  first  society,  under  date  of 
February  12,  1882,  the  writer  finds  in  his  diary  the  following 
record.  "Meeting  of  the  Cumberland  Association 
House  of  ministers  in  Williston  Church.     I  give  some  ac- 

Peas"'  count  of  our  young  people's  society.     All  approve 

of  it  except  Mr.  — .  He  does  not  believe  in  'hot- 
house green  peas,'  and  is  very  bitter  toward  the  society." 

One  of  the  most  dignified  and  most  forcibly  put  of  these 
early  criticisms,  by  an  influential  paper,  is  here  quoted  to  show 
the  best  case  that  could  be  made  out  in  those  earliest  days 
against  the  Society  and  its  work. 

"Christian  nurture  is  as  old  as  the  church.  It  has  been 
a  need;  it  is  a  need;  and  it  will  be  a  need.  We  want  it;  we 
must  have  it,  we  die  daily  without  it,  but  how  are  we  to  get  it? 
We  are  afraid  of  the  society  plan.  That  is  the  standing 
American  way  of  doing  things — to  get  up  a  society  and  have 
grand  co-operative  action ;  but  this  is  a  case  where  one  may  be 
better  than  many  and  co-operation  not  so  good  as  operation. 
Fill  the  country  with  societies,  and  nothing  would  be  done 
until  individuals  began  to  do  their  individual  duty.  Why  not 
begin  in  this  way?  A  great  society  will  not  create  opportuni- 
ties. Good  sense,  a  pair  of  open  eyes,  and  a  faithful  heart 
make  the  best  society  of  Christian  Endeavor  in  the  world. 
Get  your  little  world  around  you,  and  begin  operations  at  once. 
Have  your  circle,  your  meetings,  your  little  societies. 

"The  society  for  carrying  on  so  simple  a  duty  is  pretty 
sure  to  be  all  society,  and  very  little  Christian  nurture.  As 
far  as  association  is  needed,  the  church  is  all  that  is  required. 
What  is  the  church  good  for  if  not  to  guide  and  support  Chris- 
tian nurture  and  to  call  out  Christian  endeavor?  It  fur- 
nishes every  required  opportunity,  and  the  use  of  its  agencies 


Back  Currents  and  Eddies.  291 

will  not  require  a  multiplication  of  agencies,  nor  an  increase 
of  machinery. 

"If  organization  is  required,  there  is  every  chance  in  the 
world  to  organize  through  the  church.  .  .  .  Young  peo- 
ple should  not  be  crowded  too  far,  nor  into  a  kind  of  mature 
work  they  are  not  fit  to  do;  to  exhort  and  preach  when  their 
minds  are  callow  and  their  judgments  unformed.  .  .  . 
The  sum  of  it  is,  we  want  the  Christian  nurture  and  the  Chris- 
tian endeavor,  but  we  want  them  writ  small,  and  not  in  capi- 
tals. We  do  not  object  to  societies,  but  we  are  afraid  of  the 
Society  of  Christian  Endeavor." 

.  It  is  needless  to  point  out  that  the  writer  of  this 

Unconscious  article  entirely  overlooked  the  fact  that  the  very  ob- 
ject of  the  Society  was  to  help  individuals  to  do 
their  duty,  and  to  give  individuals  a  definite  duty  to  perform 
which  they  would  never  find  for  themselves.  This  history 
would  never  have  been  written,  and  the  Society  would  never 
have  found  its  way  outside  of  its  original  church  home,  had 
not  this  been  the  design  and  practical  outcome  of  the  Christian 
Endeavor  movement.  An  old  unconscious  fallacy  also  under- 
lies this  whole  article,  the  fallacy  that  the  church  is  something 
less  or  other  than  the  sum  of  its  activities,  and  that  something 
besides  the  church  is  calling  out  Christian  Endeavor  through 
the  Christian  Endeavor  Society. 

The  article  quoted  above  of  course  would  not  be  written 
to-day,  and  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  journal  publishing 
it  is  now,  and  has  been  for  many  years,  one  of  the  stanchest 
friends  and  advocates  of  the  movement.  Other  editors  and 
pastors,  however,  agreed  with  the  writer  quoted  and  tried  in 
every  way  to  "write  small"  the  word  "endeavor"  and  the  so- 
ciety which  bore  its  name.  But  it  is  again  interesting  to  note 
that  in  the  great  majority  of  cases  these  pastors  to-day  take 
no  such  attitude,  and  many  of  them  have  since  helped  in  a  mul- 
titude of  ways  to  advance  the  movement. 

Other  critical  articles  of  the  early  days  need  no  comment, 


292  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

and  are  quoted  only  as  curiosities  of  literature.  One  writer 
is  so  incensed  against  the  movement  that  he  will  not  when  he 
can  help  it  even  sully  his  paper  with  its  name.  "It  is  such  an 
awkward,  meaningless  term,"  he  says,  "that  henceforward  it 
will  be  referred  to  as  'this  society.'  "  Here  are  two  choice 
specimens  from  different  papers,  one  published  in  West  Vir- 
ginia, and  the  other  in  Connecticut. 

A  "Among  the  many  heresies  of  modern  things  we 

"  Modern  have  Selected  the  Young  People's  Society  of  Chris- 
^^^^^'  tian  Endeavor,  and  will  try  to  measure  it  by  the 
Word  of  God.  It  is  a  society  that  boasts  of  its  membership 
running  up  into  hundreds  of  thousands.  They  claim  that  its 
growth  has  been  'phenomenal.'  But  I  never  heard  of  them 
trying  to  show  that  it  is  scriptural. 

"  'Numbers  are  no  mark. 

That  we  shall  right  be  found. 
Eight  souls  were  saved  in  Noah's  ark, 
While  many  millions  drowned.' 

"If  that  society  exists  by  the  authority  of  Jesus  Christ,  cer- 
tainly some  of  their  members  would  be  able  to  show  chapter 
and  verse." 

Here  is  the  contribution  from  Connecticut: — 

"You-Pretty-Sweet-Child-Elymas.  What  and  who  are 
you,  anyway,  if  not  an  old  bird  in  new  feathers?  You  are  a 
success  spectacular!  You  are  the  tail  that  wags  the  dog! 
You  capture  and  swallow  at  one  gullup  the  whole  city-full, 
pulpit  and  pew!  You  have  come  to  stay!  So  comes  leprosy 
when  it  finds  its  affinity!!  You  have  found  a  fat  carcass!! 
You  are  covered  with  the  dust,  rust,  and  moth  of  ages!!  You 
are  simply  an  old  bird  in  new  feathers!!  You  are  a  bowing 
wall,  etc.!     You  are  a  favorite  of  the  world!" 

Another  writer  in  the  early  days  inveighed  bitterly  against 
the  author  of  this  history  because,  as  he  says,  "Dr.  Clark  has 


Back  Currents  and  Eddies.  293 

prepared  a  new  Bible  for  Endeavorers."  He  says,  "This 
Bible  with  notes  by  the  man  specimens  of  whose  writings 
have  been  shown  in  these  articles  is  now  an  estab- 
Curious  lished  fact.  The  writer  has  not  seen  this  Bible; 
jec  lon.  pej-1-^aps  it  is  just  as  well,  or  the  editor  might  have 
to  furnish  space  for  another  letter." 

The  fact  of  the  matter  was,  that  The  Golden  Rule,  of 
which  the  author  was  the  editor,  ofifered  as  a  premium  at  one 
time  the  well-known  "International  Bible,"  a  famous  teach- 
ers' Bible  with  notes  by  eminent  scholars.  The  editor  had  not 
written  a  line  of  these  notes,  and,  much  to  his  regret,  could  not 
lay  the  slightest  claim  to  them.  But  this  critic,  "who  prefers 
to  remain  unknown,"  and  who  had  "not  seen  this  Bible"  of 
which  he  writes,  allows  no  little  matter  of  that  sort  to  inter- 
fere with  his  sarcasm,  but  goes  on  to  say, 

"Perhaps  the  International  Bible,  ivith  notes  by  the  editor 
of  The  Golden  Rule,  will  explain  to  those  who  accept  it  as 
their  standard  that  our  Lord  did  not  mean  what  He  said  when 
He  gave  this  advice  to  His  followers,  'But  thou,  when  thou 
doest  thine  alms,  do  not  sound  a  trumpet  before  thee,  as  the 
hypocrites  do  in  the  synagogues  and  streets,  that  they  may  have 
glory  of  men.  Verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  they  have  their  re- 
ward. But  thou,  when  thou  doest  thine  alms,  let  not  thy  left 
hand  know  what  thy  right  hand  doeth.'  Or  possibly  it  will  be 
said  by  many  followers  of  this  new  faith  that^humility,  and  a 
hiding  of  self,  was  suited  to  the  times  before  these,  but  that 
now  each  one  should  keep  himself  or  herself  prominently  in 
view,  lest  any  good  deed  or  meritorious  act  go,  by  any  chance, 
unnoticed." 

One  of  the  commonest  charges  in  the  early 
Wolf  in  days  was  that  this  innocent  child  of  the  church  was 
cloThing. '  none  other  than  "a  ravening  wolf  in  sheep's  cloth- 
ing," a  subtle  deceiver,  working  especially  in  the 
interests  of  the  Cogregational  denomination.  Some  natural 
glorification  of  Congregationalism  at  a  distinctly  Congrega- 


294  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

tional  rally,  where  members  of  no  other  denomination  were 
present,  was  used  as  a  basis  of  such  vehement  denunciation  in 
some  other  denominational  papers.  This  charge  had  its  ludi- 
crous side  to  some  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  leaders  who  were 
suffering  just  at  that  time  from  attacks  of  some  Congregation- 
alists  and  the  lofty  indifference  and  total  ignoring  of  others. 

In  parts  of  the  country,  however,  where  the  Society  was 
found  chiefly  in  Presbyterian  churches,  it  was  considered  as 
one  of  the  wiles  of  the  devil  to  lead  all  young  Methodists  into 
the  Presbyterian  fold,  while  in  another  part  of  the  world, 
where  the  Methodists  predominated  I  have  heard  the  society 
objected  to  as  "  altogether  too  Methodistic." 

Theological  seminaries  have  frequently  been  among  the 
last  to  recognize  any  good  thing  in  the  Society,  or  even  to  be 
aware  of  its  existence.  Some  of  them,  apparently,  to  this  day, 
have  never  heard  of  it.  By  some  professors  it  has  been 
soundly  rated  in  their  lectures  or  else  damned  with  exceed- 
ingly faint  praise. 

There  are,  however,  not  a  few  exceptions  to  this  rule,  in 
fact  so  many  exceptions  that  perhaps  they  would  form  the  rule 
rather  than  the  exception.  For  among  the  earliest  and  most 
earnest  friends  of  the  movement  have  been  such  eminent  the- 
ologians as  President  George  B.  Stewart  of  Auburn  Seminary; 
President  Beach  of  Bangor;  President  Barrows  of  Oberlin 
Seminary  and  Oberlin  College;  Professor,  now  President, 
King  of  the  same  institution;  President  Wood  of  Newton 
Seminary;  President  Charles  Cuthbert  Hall  of  Union  Sem- 
inary, New  York;  and  many  others  who  might  be  mentioned. 
The  late  lamented  President  Harper,  when  a  professor  in  the 
Yale  Divinity  School,  was  a  trustee  of  the  United  Society,  and 
frequently  spoke  at  its  conventions. 

At  the  invitation  of  President  Stewart  the  author  pre- 
pared a  course  of  lectures  on  Christian  Nurture,  with  special 
reference  to  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society,  which  he  deliv- 


Back  Currents  and  Eddies.  295 

ered  first  at  Auburn,  and  afterwards  at  many  other  seminaries 

of  different  denominations,*  and  wishes  to  acknowledge  the 

cordial  way  in  which  he  was  received  by  professors 

Denom=  ,  ,  ,., 

inationai       and  Students  alike. 

Opposi=  Denominational  opposition,  as  has  before  been 

said,  was  the  most  serious  of  all,  because  it  was  or- 
ganized opposition,  and  because  the  Society  was  often  deliber- 
ately supplanted  by  others  with  almost  exactly  the  same  prin- 
ciples and  methods,  but  with  different  names  and  without  the 
fellowship.  The  reasons  for  this  opposition  are  sufficiently 
obvious,  and  need  not  be  dwelt  upon. 

The  hardest  thing  to  bear,  perhaps,  in  these  criticisms 
was  the  total  misunderstanding  of  underlying  principles,  or 
the  entire  ignorance  of  the  history  of  the  Society,  which  some- 
times led  speakers  on  important  occasions  to  travesty  the  truth 
about  the  Society.  Thus  at  an  important  international  meet- 
ing of  Christians  the  speakers  pleaded  for  "heroic  service"  and 
"practical  methods,"  criticising  the  young  people  of  the  day 
for  "lack  of  stamina"  and  zeal,  and  utterly  ignoring  the  fact 
that  the  Society  had  for  its  purpose  heroic  service  for  the 
church  and  the  practical  philanthropies  which  the  critics 
pleaded  for.  The  very  things  that  they  asked  to  have  done 
were  being  done  in  ten  thousand  churches,  and  they  had  never 
taken  the  pains  to  find  out  about  it.  One  great  purpose  of  the 
Society  that  they  criticised  for  not  enduring  hardness  was  to 
teach  its  members  to  endure  hardness  as  good  soldiers. 

Other  objections  blew  from  exactly  the  opposite  point  of 
the  compass.  The  Society  was  "too  serious,"  "too  strenuous," 
it  "was  not  fitted  for  boys  and  girls,"  it  did  "not  provide  for 
their  amusement,"  it  made  "too  much  of  the  prayer-meeting." 
Such  writers  quietly  scofifed  at  the  "Quiet  Hour"  and  all  such 
features.     It  was  claimed  that  the  "four  M's,"  Moody,  Mur- 

*  Among    them,    Oberlin,    Chicago,    McCormick,    Rochester,    Union,    Andover, 
Bangor,  Newton,  and  Gettysburg  Seminaries. 


296         christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

ray,  Meyer,  and  Morgan,  were  the  patron  saints  of  the  So- 
ciety, and  something  "more  practical  and  rational"  was 
pleaded  for.  The  writers  evidently  forgot  that  the  most  prac- 
tical men  in  the  church  of  recent  years  were  these  same  four 
M's,  who  by  their  books  and  their  schools,  their  practical  ser- 
vice for  the  Kingdom  in  the  church  and  in  politics,  by  their 
splendid  organizing  ability,  as  well  as  by  their  deep  devotion, 
have  probably  done  more  than  any  other  four  men 
'Four  in  the  recent  history  of  the  church.     If  the  society 

wanted  any  patron  saints,  it  could  not  choose  more 
wisely  than  to  take  the  "four  M's." 

But  the  objection  implied  in  the  criticism  was  altogether 
beside  the  mark,  for  it  will  be  seen  on  other  pages  that  tasks 
and  duties  level  with  the  comprehension  of  the  youngest  child- 
ren in  the  society  are  provided,  and  their  innocent  amusement 
is  not  neglected  nor  their  social  natures  stunted.  The  very 
things  that  it  is  criticised  for  not  doing  it  is  trying  in  twice 
ten  thousand  places  patiently  and  persistently  to  accomplish. 

The  very  success  of  the  Society  has  inspired  some  of  its 
critics  with  their  chief  argument.  The  rapidity  of  its  growth, 
the  enormous  size  of  its  conventions,  have  come  in  for  their 
share  of  animadversion.  It  has  over  and  over  again  been 
plainly  proved  that  the  societies  that  sprung  up  so  rapidly 
must  die  down  as  quickly,  and  the  mushroom  has  been  a  favor- 
ite simile  in  the  mouths  of  some.  But  there  are  other  compar- 
isons which  are  more  illuminating  than  that  of  the  mushroom, 
A  revolution  in  public  sentiment  seems  to  be  born  in  a  day; 
but  it  is  really  the  result  of  many  causes,  and  perhaps  has  come 
only  after  centuries  of  preparation.  The  French  Revolution 
gathered  force  in  a  week,  but  silent  preparation  for  it  was 
made  throughout  the  century.  The  Christian  Endeavor 
movement  seems  to  have  been  born  in  a  day;  it  was  really  the 
result  of  a  century  of  care  and  thought  and  prayer  for  the 
young.     The    Rhone   starts   from   Geneva   with    tremendous 


Back  Currents  and  Eddies.  297 

force  and  volume,  but  it  is  because  it  has  Lake  Leman  behind 
it. 

These  criticisms  and  many  others  which  might  be  men- 
tioned never  really  harmed  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement. 
A  tree  once  fairly  planted  is  rarely  destroyed  by  adverse  winds. 
It  may  be  bent  and  twisted  in  its  youth,  but  it  grows  sturdier 
and  stronger  because  of  these  very  winds  that  threaten  its  de- 
struction. It  is  good  for  a  society  to  bear  the  yoke  of  criti- 
cism in  its  youth.  Destructive  criticism  is  soon  forgotten, 
constructive  criticism  helps  it  to  mend  its  ways,  to  strengthen 
its  weak  points,  and  to  avoid  dangerous  pitfalls.  The  Society 
of  Christian  Endeavor  will  always  welcome  friendly  and  up- 
building criticism,  and  has  reason,  at  the  end  of  its  twenty- 
fifth  year,  to  be  grateful  even  to  its  disguised  friends,  the  un- 
friendly critics. 

"There  is  no  storm  hath  power  to  blast 
The  tree  God  plants: 
No  thunderbolt,  no  beating  rain. 
Nor  lightning  flash,  nor  hurricane — 
When  they  are  spent,  it  doth  remain; 
The  tree  God  knows 
Through  every  tempest  standeth  fast. 
And  from  its  first  day  to  its  last 
Still  fairer  grows." 


CHAPTEP.  XXIII. 

TOUCHES  OF  COLOR. 

BADGES  AND  BANNERS,  BRIGHTNESS  AND  BLOOM,  AND 
THE  JOYOUS  SONG  AND  FELLOWSHIP  OF  THE  SOCIETY 
ARE  TREATED  IN  THIS  CHAPTER. 

"  Then,  again,  the  Christian  Endeavorers  can  contribute  to 
the  church  a  cheery  optimism  which  is  too  often  absent  from 
the  spirit  and  methods  of  Christians.  Young  people  are  glori- 
ously optimistic,  and  sometimes  exhibit  a  '  cocksureness  '  about 
men  and  things  which  is  simply  delightful.  Let  not  the  seniors 
be  too  anxious  to  suppress  them.  The  '  big  brotherliness  '  of 
Eliab  would  have  wiped  out  the  zeal  and  enthusiasm  of  the 
smaller  but  more  daring  Junior,  David." 

Rev.  J.  D.  Lamont,  Ireland. 

iN  often-overlooked  result  of  the  Christian  En- 
deavor movement  is  its  introduction  of  the  color, 
the  sparkle  and  bloom,  natural  to  youth  into  the 
religious  life  of  the  day. 

Protestantism  is  apt  to  be  sombre,  sometimes 
gloomy.  The  iconoclasts  not  only  stripped  the  churches  of 
the  images  and  tore  down  the  pictures,  but  they  broke  the 
stained-glass  windows,  and  in  their  holy  zeal  against  image- 
worship  removed  every  scrap  of  color  from  many  a  church 
which  for  centuries  after  their  image-breaking  exploits  re- 
mained colorless  and  gloomy.  The  Protestant  puts  on  his  best 
black  clothes  on  Sunday,  and  unfortunately  sometimes  puts  on 
a  sombre  face  with  his  sombre  clothes.  A  preacher's  Sunday 
voice  does  not  always  have  the  same  cheerful  ring  in  it  that 
is  found  in  his  Saturday  voice  or  his  Monday  voice. 

There  was  evidently  room  in  our  modern  religious  life 

298 


Touches  of  Color. 


299 


Christian    Endeavor   Badges. 
Some  Specimens  from  Many  Parts  of  the  World. 


300         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

for  more  of  brightness,  vivacity,  and  color  without  in  any  way 
lowering  the  standards  of  reverence  or  godly  fear.  Much  can 
be  done  to  show  that  religion  means  good  cheer  for  the  liv- 
ing, as  well  as  comfort  for  the  dying;  that  it  was  meant  to 
strew  roses  on  the  pathway  of  life,  as  well  as  to  illuminate  the 
dark  valley. 

What  is  more  natural,  then,  since  this  need  exists  in  the  re- 
ligious life  of  the  day,  than  that  the  young  people's  society 
should  seek  to  meet  it;  for  youth  is  the  age  of  vi- 
christian      vacity  and  color?    An  outward  and  visible  sign  of 
Endeavor      this  brightening  of  the  religious  life  is  found  in  the 

Badge.  ^,     .     •  t^     i  i       ,  i  •    i       •  i 

Christian  Endeavor  badges,  which  in  the  very 
earliest  days  of  the  Society  began  to  flutter  from  the  breasts 
of  the  young  Endeavorers.  At  first  these  were  but  bits  of 
ribbon  with  "Christian  Endeavor  Convention,"  or  some  such 
simple  legend,  printed  upon  them.  Then,  as  the  Society  grew, 
in  order  that  one  State  delegation  might  be  differentiated  from 
another,  and  that  it  might  be  known  at  a  glance  whether  the 
fellow  Endeavorer  whom  we  met  on  the  street  came  from 
Texas  or  Quebec,  from  Oklahoma  or  Oregon,  State  and  Pro- 
vincial devices  began  to  appear.  The  California  bear  was  pic- 
tured on  the  broad  yellow  and  purple  badge  of  the  Sunshine 
State;  Canada  used  the  maple-leaf  design;  Maine's  pine-tree 
decorated  the  badge  of  the  Dirigo  Endeavorers;  New  Hamp- 
shire Endeavorers  dangled  a  little  granite  block  from  their 
badge ;  the  color  of  the  Vermont  badges  showed  that  the  young 
people  came  from  the  Green  Mountain  State.  At  one  time  the 
Florida  badge  was  the  Christian  Endeavor  monogram  painted 
on  a  great  silver  tarpon  scale,  while  the  Connecticut  En- 
deavorers did  not  resent  the  time-worn  joke  about  their  thrifty 
ancestors,  but  hung  a  wooden  nutmeg  from  one  end  of  their 
badge  to  show  where  they  had  left  their  homes. 

But  the  Christian  Endeavor  monogram  badge  had  a  more 
important  mission  than  to  lend  a  special  color  or  the  glitter  of 


Touches  of  Color.  301 

silver  or  gold  to  a  convention.  It  has  performed  a  wonder- 
fully useful  mission  in  giving  the  members  of  the  Society  an 
opportunity  to  show  their  colors,  metaphorically  rather  than 
literally.  It  has  become  a  badge  of  Christian  discipleship. 
The  wearer  has  simply  by  wearing  it  shown  to  the 
One's  world  that  he  was  not  ashamed  to  be  known  as  a 

Colors.  ^,     .   ^. 

Christian. 

In  numberless  cases  it  has  kept  him  out  of  unworthy 
places  where  he  would  not  have  his  Christian  Endeavor  badge 
displayed.  For  this  purpose  it  is  well  designed,  being  plain, 
simple,  and  open,  and  not  so  elaborate  that  it  cannot  be  read 
at  a  glance.  As  has  been  often  pointed  out,  the  E  is  entirely 
enclosed  by  the  C,  showing  that  the  "endeavor,"  whatever  it 
may  be,  is  within  the  "Christ." 

This  simple  monogram  has  perhaps  been  used  more  ex- 
tensively than  any  other  of  modern  times.  It  is  adopted  by 
Endeavorers  of  every  nation,  whatever  the  language,  for  C.  E. 
is  the  universal  symbol  of  Christian  Endeavor.  Their  own 
name  goes  with  it,  to  be  sure;  but  the  original  English  mono- 
gram is  found  in  China  and  in  the  languages  of  India,  in 
Persia  and  the  South  Sea  Islands,  as  well  as  in  America  and 
Europe.  Badges  by  the  million,  programmes  by  the  ten  mil- 
lion, leaflets  and  pledges  and  papers  and  magazines  literally 
by  the  billion,  have  reproduced  this  little  monogram,  and  its 
signification  is  rarely  mistaken. 

In  most  of  the  languages  of  Europe  the  initials  of  the 
Society  are  the  same  as  in  English,  and  pains  have  been  taken 
in  some  cases  to  give  the  Society  a  name  that  would  admit  of 
the  same  monogram,  as  in  Germany  "Entschiedenes  Chris- 
tenthum,"  in  Spain,  "Esfuerzo  Cristiano,"  in  Portuguese, 
"Esforgo  Christao."  In  France  it  has  been  impossible  as  yet 
to  find  an  appropriate  name  with  the  right  initials,  and  "Ac- 
tivite  Chretienne,"  with  the  initials  C.  A.,  is  the  accepted  term, 
both  in  France  and  in  French-speaking  Switzerland,  while 


302         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

Italy  calls  it  "Attivita  Cristiano."  But  C.  E.  is  understood 
in  France  and  Italy  as  well  as  C.  A. 

Since  this  simple  design  has  been  so  widely  adopted,  it  is 
of  interest  to  read  the  story  of  the  designing  of  the  original 
badge.  To  the  Rev.  H.  B.  Grose,  from  the  beginning  one  of 
the  trustees  of  the  United  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor,  must 
be  given  the  credit  of  originating  the  Endeavor  badge,  and  to 
Mr.  F.  H.  C.  Woolley,  then  a  young  draughtsman 
story  of  Medford,  Mass.,  the  credit  of  bringing  it  to  its 

Original  final  perfection.  This  is  Mr.  Grose's  story.  He 
Design.  ^^g  ^^^^  pastor  of  a  Baptist  church  in  Pough- 
keepsie,  N.  Y.  Several  designs  for  a  badge  had  been  secured 
by  the  officers  of  the  United  Society,  and  by  them  were  sent 
to  the  different  trustees  for  inspection  and  suggestion  before 
the  final  decision  should  be  made  at  the  next  meeting  of  the 
board  of  trustees. 

"I  was  sitting  in  my  study,"  writes  Mr.  Grose,  "when  the 
letter  was  brought  in  to  me.  The  designs  were  elaborate  and 
beautifully  prepared,  one  of  them  a  shield,  I  think.  My  first 
impression  was  that  they  were  too  elaborate,  and  must  prove 
expensive  as  well.  My  idea  was  that  the  simpler  the  pin,  the 
better;  and  the  backgrounds  of  shields  and  crescents  and  dia- 
monds, and  so  on,  had  been  used  to  such  an  extent  by  one 
secret  order  or  another  that  the  open  monogram  occurred  to 
me  as  more  uncommon  and  capable  of  the  greatest  simplicity, 
combined  with  effectiveness  and  clearness.  On  the  impulse  of 
the  moment  I  began  to  put  the  letters  together,  to  see  whether 
they  would  join  gracefully.  I  have  numbered  the  attempts  in 
the  order  of  their  making.*  It  will  be  noted  that  the  first  idea 
was  the  one  finally  returned  to  in  the  ninth  outline,  which, 
while  very  crude  from  the  artistic  point  of  view,  still  gives  the 
form  finally  adopted.  Satisfied  that  this  was  worthy  of  sug- 
gestion to  the  committee,  I  made  a  more  careful  sketch,  and 
forwarded  it,  with  the  request  that  the  artist,  Mr.  F.  H.  C. 
Woolley,  who  drew  the  other  designs,  be  asked  to  prepare  this 

*  See  illustration. 


Touches  of  Color. 


303 


in  like  finished  fashion,  for  purposes  of  comparison.  This 
was  done  before  the  board  meeting,  if  I  remember  rightly. 
At  any  rate,  at  that  meeting,  November  8,  1887,  the  monogram 
pin  was  chosen  with  that  unanimity  which  has  been  so  marked 
and  beautiful  a  feature  of  the  trustee  meetings,  and  within  a 
short  time  the  C.  E.  pin  was  advertised  by  the  treasurer,  and 
began  to  be  seen  in  Endeavor  circles.  The  design  was  patent- 
ed, so  that  any  profits  accruing  from  the  sale  of  the  badge 
should  be  used  in  the  extension  of  the  movement,  and  not  go 
into  the  pockets  of  private  individuals. 


Rough  sketches  from  which  was  made  the  design  of  the  badge. 

"How  little  any  one  dreamed  in  that  day  that  it  would 
within  a  few  years  be  worn  by  tens  and  tens  of  thousands  of 
loyal  Endeavorers!  Many  emblems  are  more  showy,  more 
glittering,  more  ornamental,  perhaps,  but  I  see  none  that  satis- 
fies me  so  well,  or  that  awakens  so  many  feelings  of  afifection, 
gratitude,  consecration,  and  hope  as  the  strong,  simple,  speak- 
ing monogram  in  which  the  ^E'  that  means  'Endeavor'  is  made 
sublimely  significant  by  the  encompassing  'C  that  marks  it  all 
as  Christian. 

"These  drawings  were  made  on  the  sheet  on  which  I  was 
jotting  down  some  points  for  an  article  at  the  moment  the  letter 
from  Boston  was  brought  in.  I  leave  the  points,  too,  because 
it  seems  an  interesting  coincidence  that  one  of  those  points  was 


304         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

that 'duty  of  Christian  citizenship'  which  President  Clark  sug- 
gested and  emphasized  so  effectively  at  Montreal,  July,  1893, 
and  which  now  has  come  to  assume  so  much  practical  impor- 
tance in  the  forvv^ard  movement  of  the  Christian  young  people 
of  the  nation." 

The  distinctive  badges  for  each  of  the  irreat 

Special  .  ,  ,      °,  a^  r 

Convention  couvcntious  make  valuable  souvenirs.  Many  01 
^^^*  them  were  designed  by  well-known  artists,  and  were 
selected  only  after  close  competition.  For  the  most  part  the 
British  badges  have  surpassed  the  American  in  beauty  and 
finish,  though  it  would  be  very  difficult  to  find,  anything  more 
beautiful  and  artistic  than  the  Baltimore  badge  of  1905.  In 
the  American  conventions,  however,  the  badge  has  usually 
been  given  away  to  every  delegate ;  and,  when  these  had  to  be 
provided  by  the  ten  thousand,  it  was  evidently  impossible  to 
furnish  an  expensive  one.  The  effect  of  the  massing  together 
of  several  hundred  of  these  convention  and  State  or  national 
badges  upon  a  black  velvet  background,  artistically  arranged, 
is  beautiful  and  suggestive  in  the  extreme,  for  each  badge  tells 
of  devotion  and  Christian  zeal  and  high  purpose  and  youth- 
ful aspiration.  A  banner  of  badges  seems  to  be  a  lovely  prism 
that  reflects  the  colors  and  the  shades  of  a  hundred  Christian 
virtues  and  activities. 

Such  a  banner  was  made  a  number  of  years  ago,  and  was 
presented  each  year  for  a  number  of  years  to  the  State  that 
made  the  largest  increase  in  societies.  After  a  time  it  was 
sent  across  the  seas  to  Great  Britain  in  token  of  the  rapid 
growth  of  Christian  Endeavor  there,  and  as  a  sign  of  Ameri- 
can fellowship  and  hearty  good  will  from  the  million  En- 
deavorers  it  represented. 

Of  late  years  national  banners  have  played  a  still  more 
important  part  in  the  history  of  Christian  Endeavor,  for  they 
have  been  sent  back  and  forth  across  the  seas  to  carry  their 
message  of  peace  and  good  will,  and  to  tell  also  of  growth  in 


Touches  of  Color. 


305 


the  movement  whose  emblems  they  bear  and  whose  ties  of 
Christian  brotherhood  they  strengthen. 

When  in  1902  the  '^Increase  Campaign,"  which 

Increase=  -^  .  r      o    i 

Campaign  has  been  so  remarkably  fruitful,  was  proposed,  it 
was  resolved  to  present  an  Increase  Campaign  ban- 
,ner  to  each  State  and  Province  in  America  that  added  ten  per 
cent  to  the  number  of  its  societies.  When  a  second  ten  per 
cent  was  gained,  a  star  should  be  added  to  the  banner;  a  third 
ten  per  cent  would  be  recognized  by  two  stars,  just  as  a  star 


The   "Increase"  Banner  Given  to   Oregon  by  the  Church 
of  England  Society  in  Foochow,  China. 

is  added  to  the  national  flag  for  every  commonvvcalth  which 
comes  into  the  family  of  the  United  States.  Ten  stars  would 
mean  that  the  goal  of  this  particular  Increase  Campaign  had 
been  reached  and  the  number  of  the  societies  had  been  doubled. 
It  was  thought,  also,  that  if  these  banners  came  from  for- 
eign lands  they  would  be  more  prized,  and  the  sense  of  world- 
wide fellowship  in  Christian  Endeavor  would  be  increased. 
So  the  United  Society  made  requests  of  the  Endeavorers  in 
Japan  and  China  and  India  and  Mexico  and  France  and  Bo- 
hemia and  Germany,   and  beautiful  symbolic  banners  were 

received   from   all   these  countries.     A  prize-banner  contest 
20 


3o6  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

was  introduced  at  a  Japanese  convention,  and  the  best  banners 
were  sent  to  America.  Many  of  these  were  of  extreme  beauty, 
oftentimes  wrought  by  the  skilful  fingers  of  the  Japanese 
maidens  in  the  mission  schools.  They  brought  the  very  life 
and  color  and  delicate  sense  of  beauty  from  art-loving  Japan 
to  more  prosaic  America.  They  told  of  the  castles  and  the 
mountains  and  the  flowers  and  the  storks  of  Japan;  but  each 
one  of  them,  too,  had  its  religious  sentiment,  and  told  of  broth- 
erhood and  loyalty  to  Christ. 

Some  of  the  Chinese  banners  were  particularly  touching 
in  their  designs,  for  the  border  represented  the  fires  of  perse- 
cution through  which  the  Chinese  church  had  passed  in  the 
Boxer  uprising;  one  side  showed  the  design  of  a  lotus  flower 
blooming  upon  the  surface  of  a  pool,  indicating  that,  as  the 
lotus  flower  came  up  from  the  slime  of  the  ditch  and  bloomed 
in  glorious  beauty  and  fragrance,  so  the  Christian  church  of 
China,  arising  from  the  depths  of  its  persecution,  would  bloom 
more  gloriously  than  ever.  On  the  other  side  within  the 
C.  E.  monogram  were  wrought  the  names  of  the  Chinese 
Christian  Endeavor  martyrs  who  died  for  their  faith  at  the 
time  of  the  siege  of  Peking,  the  names  of  the  women  martyrs 
within  the  letter  "E"  and  of  the  men  within  the  "C."  Such 
a  design,  with  various  modifications,  was  a  great  favorite,  and 
like  banners  were  given  to  a  number  of  States  as  a  perpetual 
reminder  that  Christian  Endeavor  should  be  heroic  as  well 
as  beautiful. 

Other  countries  have  now  taken  up  this  American  idea, 
and  fellowship  banners  have  been  presented  by  the  United 
Society  to  several  countries  that  have  entered  successfully 
upon  the  Increase  Campaign. 

Color  The  great  conventions  are  naturally  the  place 

Qreat  whcrc  the  "color  scheme"  of  Christian  Endeavor, 

Conventions,  if  we  may  so  call  it,  finds  its  largest  expression. 
When  tens  of  thousands  of  young  people  come  together  with 


Touches  of  Color.  307 

their  gayety  and  good  spirits,  their  badges  and  their  banners, 
their  cheerful  songs  and  salutations  and  State  rallying-cries, 
it  can  be  imagined  that  there  is  nothing  sombre  or  long-faced 
about  the  religion  they  exemplify.  The  cities  themselves  an- 
ticipate the  coming,  and  put  on  their  best  attire,  like  a  matron 
who  adorns  herself  in  her  finest  jewels  and  silks  to  welcome 
an  honored  guest. 

Here  is  a  description  of  the  appearance  of  a  city  on  the 
eve  of  an  international  convention:  "White  and  gold  every- 
where; flags,  festoons,  streamers,  and  banners  decorated  in 
profusion  public  and  private  buildings,  business  blocks  and 
residences.  Storekeepers  vied  with  each  other  in  making  dis- 
plays of  their  goods  which  should  most  beautifully  combine 
the  two  colors.  Florists  filled  their  windows  with  white  and 
yellow  daisies,  Japan  lilies,  and  goldenrod.  Jewellers  de- 
voted their  show  windows  to  most  ingenious  arrangements  of 
silver  and  gold.  Dry-goods  dealers  displayed  a  wealth  of 
white  and  yellow  silk,  ribbons,  and  fabrics  of  all  kinds.  Book- 
sellers gave  a  conspicuous  place  to  their  white  and  gold  edi- 
tions. Prettiest  of  all,  great  numbers  of  young  ladies  adopted 
for  their  home  and  street  costume  white  dresses  with  golden- 
hued  belt  and  trimmings."  * 

All  this  was  because  the  Christian  Endeavor  colors  of 
Cleveland,  where  the  convention  was  held  that  year,  were 
white  and  gold;  and  the  citizens  took  this  way  of  expressing 
their  welcome  to  the  great  gathering. 

Boston  has  the  reputation,  largely  undeserved,  of  being 
a  cold,  self-contained  city.  If  it  ever  deserved  the  name,  its 
coldness  surely  melted  and  the  streets  of  the  old  Puritan  city 
certainly  became  bright  when  the  Endeavorers  invaded  them. 
A  descriptionf  of  the  city  written  at  the  time  of  the  conven- 
tion of  '95  is  worth  quoting  while  we  are  writing  of  the  touch 

*  Report  of  the  Thirteenth  Annual  International   Convention. 

t  Report  of  the  Fourteenth  International  Christian  Endeavor  Convention. 


3o8  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

of  color  which  Christian  Endeavor  has  brought  to  the  religi- 
ous life  of  the  generation. 

"Boston  frigidity!  Forever  henceforth  let  that 
Brightness  p^rasc  hide  its  head  in  shame!  To  say  nothing  of 
Boston.  the  crowded  enthusiastic  rallies  that  have  preceded 
this  convention,  where  audiences  of  seven  and  eight 
thousand  went  wild  with  Christian  Endeavor  zeal ;  to  say  noth- 
ing of  those  bands  of  beautiful-faced  maidens  and  energetic 
lads  that  were  striking  warm  hands  with  each  incoming  dele- 
gate, holding  aloft  'Welcome'  placards,  and  beaming  a  wel- 
come most  unmistakable  in  their  happy  faces;  to  say  nothing 
of  homes  thrown  wide  open  and  churches  with  doors  taken 
from  their  hinges;  to  say  nothing  of  newspapers  bubbling  over 
with  hundreds  of  columns  of  vivid  narrative  and  bright  pic- 
tures, and  of  the  universal  interest  shown  in  shop  and  street; 
to  say  nothing  of  these  and  a  thousand  things  more,  there  were 
the  decorations. 

"  'When  did  Park  Street  Church  ever  do  such  a  thing  be- 
fore?' asked  an  astonished  lady  as  she  saw  the  dignified  front 
of  that  grand  old  church  festooned  with  the  gayest  of  bunting 
in  honor  of  Park  Street's  Illinois  guests.  Far  out  in  Boston's 
galaxy  of  lovely  suburbs  the  railway  stations  and  the  homes 
had  blossomed  out  in  white  for  purity  and  scarlet  for  love — 
pure  love!  As  for  the  city  streets,  they  were  all  in  a  flutter  of 
bright  color. 

"The  great  mercantile  establishments  vied  with  one 
another  in  ingenious  arrangement  and  lavish  use  of  the  red 
and  white.  The  wholesale  dealers  in  cloth  of  the  popular 
hues  told  pitiful  stories  of  the  immense  quantities  of  bunting 
they  might  have  sold  if  they  had  only  made  sufficient  provision 
for  Boston's  frigidity! 

"The  Convention  banner  proper  appeared  everywhere — 
tied  to  the  trolley-arms  of  the  electric  cars,  adorning  the  head- 
lights of  locomotives,  flying  from  windows  innumerable.  Red 
and  white  flowers  in  the  Public  Garden  had  grouped  them- 
selves into  the  same  pretty  banner  and  into  C.  E,  monograms 
as  well,  open  Bibles,  Christian  Endeavor  mottoes,  badges,  and 
the  like.     Never  before  have  the  charming  PulDlic  Gardens 


Touches  of  Color.  309 

put  on  such  festive  attire,  rustic  archways  adorning  the  en- 
trances and  the  bridges,  and  an  admirable  array  of  flowers  and 
shrubs  delighting  the  eyes  of  the  ever-present  throngs." 

^  ,  But  the  touch  of  color  is  not  confined  to  Ameri- 

Color 

in  _  can   Endeavorers   and  conventions   by  any  means. 

The  Rev.  Herbert  Halliwell,  the  secretary  of  the 
United  Society  of  India,  tells  us  about  a  visit  he  recently  made 
to  Madura.  "From  far  and  near,"  he  says,  "from  the  great 
city  itself  and  the  outlying  villages,  had  marched  in,  to  the 
number  of  one  thousand,  the  Junior  and  Senior  Endeavorers, 
with  drums  beating,  banners  flying,  and  Tamil  lyrics  vocifer- 
ously shouted.  Little  wonder  the  whole  city  was  stirred,  and 
crowds  of  Hindus  stood  around  watching  the  animated  scene." 

Rev.  James  Mursell,  describing  the  latest  convention  in 
South  Australia,  says,  "The  state  tea-tables  were  ablaze  with 
bright  ideas;  the  Juniors,  in  harmony  with  the  exercise  of  their 
rally,  'Building  the  Christian  Endeavor  Ship,'  decorated  their 
tables  with  ships  that  sailed  around  a  lighthouse,  where  a 
lamp  revolved,  shining  upon  the  guests.  The  Broken  Hill 
Union  brought  a  huge  lump  of  silver  ore  from  their  world- 
famous  mines,  and  set  it  as  a  centrepiece,  while  model  trains 
bore  trucks  of  the  same  precious  metal  to  and  fro.  Endeavor 
is  the  same  beautiful  and  inspiring  movement  all  over  the 
world.  It  is  itself  the  brightest  of  ideas.  No  wonder  it 
inspires  them." 

Mr.  Eliezer  dos  Sanctos  Saraiva,  secretary  of  the  Bra- 
zilian Union,  says  that  the  national  Endeavor  banner  of  Brazil 
is  a  yellow  C.  E.  monogram  on  a  green  field.  All  local  socie- 
ties adopt  this  banner,  and  "The  Endeavorers  go  to  their 
meetings,"  he  says  "in  some  places  in  canoes  which  float  the 
green  and  yellow  banner  of  the  national  union." 

Dr.  Pelteje-iells  how  a -proce^si-on-of- Endeavorers  at  a 
Japanese  convention  marched  two  miles  through  the  big,  bus- 
tling city  of  Osaka,  preaching  Christianity  all  the  way  as  they 


3IO         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


A  Remarkable   Banner   from   China. 


Touches  of  Color.  311 

carried  their  flags  and  banners  from  the  church  by  the  river 
to  the  school  by  the  castle  where  the  Junior  rally  and  the  gen- 
eral social  gathering  were  held. 

But  there  is  vocal  color  as  well  to  which  Christian  En- 
deavor has  given  expression.  As  the  long  line  of  electric 
cars,  sometimes  nearly  a  mile  in  length,  has  borne  to  their 
homes  after  the  convention  meetings  the  young  people  whose 
hearts  have  been  warmed  and  whose  intellects  have  been  stim- 
ulated in  the  great  gathering,  the  whole  city  has  rung  with 
their  melody,  and  through  the  highways,  and  into  the  corri- 
dors of  the  hotels,  and  out  into  the  suburbs  even,  has  gone  the 
joyous  refrain,  "There  is  sunshine  in  my  soul,"  or  some  such 
convention  favorite. 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  all  the  color  and 
sunshine  and  gladness  are  reserved  for  the  convention  days 
alone,  or  for  special  anniversaries  and  great  assemblages.  The 
brightness  of  a  happy  religious  life  is  often  taken,  as  will  be 
shown  in  other  chapters,  into  hospitals  and  poorhouses,  and 
to  Old  Ladies'  Homes,  and  to  sailors  whose  ships  lie  in  the 
harbor,  and  to  all  sorts  of  places,  and  to  all  conditions  of  men, 
who  are  helped  by  the  sight  of  a  bright  face,  a  bit  of  color,  a 
fragrant  flower,  or  a  happy  song.  Thus  is  the  color  scheme 
of  Christian  Endeavor  worked  out,  and  religion  is  made  to 
appear  the  bright  and  joyous  thing  it  really  is,  to  a  multitude 
who  never  before  appreciated  "the  beauty  of  holiness." 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 
CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR  AS  AN  EDUCATOR. 

HEREIN  ARE  FOUND  SOME  HINTS  OF  THE  INTELLECTUAL 
STIMULUS  OF  THE  SOCIETY,  PROVIDED  BY  THE  PRAYER- 
MEETINGS,  THE  SOCIAL  GATHERINGS,  THE  SUMMER 
SCHOOLS,  CORRESPONDENCE  SCHOOLS,  AND  WORKERS' 
INSTITUTES. 

"  This  great  religious  movement  is  characterized  by  a 
growth  of  Christian  intelligence  that  augurs  well  for  the  future 
of  the  church.  This  wonderful  stir  among  our  Christian  En- 
deavor millions  means  a  great  increase  of  the  readers  of  good 
literature;  it  m.eans  a  growing  appetite  for  knowledge  that  will 
swell  the  attendance  at  our  colleges  and  universities;  it  means 
a  familiarity  with  the  Bible  and  books  growing  out  of  it  such 
as  was  never  known  before."       Rev.  W .  J.  Darby,  D.D., 

Evansville,    Ind. 

iT  has  sometimes  been  thought  by  those  who  have 
not  carefully  followed  the  development  of  the 
Christian  Endeavor  movement  that  it  neglected 
the  intellectual  development  of  its  members.  It 
has  been  supposed  that  in  putting  so  much  em- 
phasis upon  heart  and  conduct  the  mind  has  not  been  suffi- 
ciently cultivated.  The  object  of  this  chapter  is  to  show  from 
the  history  of  what  has  actually  been  done  that  this  is  a  mis- 
apprehension, and  that  the  Endeavor  movement  has  been  use- 
ful in  stimulating  the  mind,  as  well  as  in  enlarging  the  heart 
and  quickening  the  conscience. 

To  be  sure,  the  Society  has  been  careful,  and  properly 
so,  not  to  intrench  upon  the  domain  of  other  organizations 
in  the  church  or  outside  of  it.  There  has  been  no  necessity 
for  the  formation  of  another  Sunday-school  movement,  and 

312 


Christian  Endeavor  as  an  Educatoro         313 

the  Society  has  not  attempted  it.  Plans  for  the  study  of  the 
Bible  almost  innumerable  exist;  and,  while  many  have  been 
recommended  to  Endeavorers  and  adopted  by  them,  the  So- 
ciety has  not  thought  it  necessary  to  add  other  schemes  of 
Bible-study  to  those  that  already  exist. 

Care  has  been  taken,  too,  to  avoid  what  would  have  been 
the  disastrous  mistake  of  making  the  weekly  young  people's 
meeting  a  mere  Bible-class  or  lecture-course.  These  are  al- 
ready amply  provided  for.  But  the  place  now  occupied  by 
the  young  people's  meeting,  the  hour  of  free  expression,  of 
heart-testimony,  of  fervent  prayer,  of  happy  song  and  spiritual 
inspiration,  was  not  provided  for  in  any  systematic  way  before 
the  Christian  Endeavor  Society  came  into  existence. 

When  we  say,  however,  that  study  and  instruction  are  not 
the  chief  purpose  of  the  young  people's  meetings,  it  must  not 
be  implied  that  this  contains  no  direct  intellectual  stimulus. 
This  is  very  far  from  being  true.  When  the  heart  is  awak- 
ened, the  mind  is  almost  necessarily  stimulated,  and  many  a 
young  person  in  the  young  people's  meeting  has  learned  for 
the  first  time  that  he  had  intellectual  capacities  which  must 
be  dedicated  to  the  Master's  service,  that  he  had  a  career  be- 
fore him  and  a  special  mission  to  fulfil. 

The  provision  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  meeting  that 
each  one  shall  "take  some  part,  however  slight,"  has  been  par- 
ticularly fruitful  in  uncovering  neglected  and  unknown  abili- 
ties. Many  a  young  man  who  has  not  dreamed  that  he  could 
speak  a  word  helpful  to  others  has  learned  to  his  surprise  that 
his  napkin  contained  an  unsuspected  talent.  He  has  been  dis- 
covered to  himself  and  to  the  church  by  this  simple  provision 
of  the  prayer-meeting,  and  oftentimes  not  to  his  church  only, 
but  to  the  community,  and  perhaps  to  the  whole  denomina- 
tion. It  is  not  exaggeration  to  say  that  during  the  last  twenty- 
five  years  the  writer  has  received  hundreds  of  letters  from 
ministers  and  prominent  Christian  workers,  saying  that  they 


314         christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

got  their  start  along  intellectual  and  religious  lines  in  the 
Christian  Endeavor  meeting,  and  many  have  told 
start  him   they  would   never   have   been    in    the    pulpit 

?ntenectuai    preaching  the  gospel,   w^ere   it  not  that  they  had 
Lines.  promised  as  boys  to  do  w^hat  Christ  would  have 

them  do,  and  to  take  some  part,  aside  from  singing,  in  each 
Christian  Endeavor  prayer-meeting. 

Says  the  Rev.  Howard  A.  Bridgman: 

"Many  an  Endeavorer  owes  to  the  movement  a  large 
measure  of  intellectual  culture,  for  nothing  so  develops  the 
mental  faculties  as  a  genuine  commitment  to  the  Christian  life. 
Boys  and  girls  who  might  never  have  thought  of  a  college  edu- 
cation, or  read  books  to  any  extent,  or  valued  libraries,  have, 
because  of  their  enlistment  under  the  banner  of  Endeavor, 
waked  up  to  the  richness  and  the  meaning  of  human  life.  It 
was  said  of  a  certain  woman  after  her  death,  'She  had  no  edu- 
cation but  the  love  of  God.'  "  * 

The  development  of  the  Christian  Endeavorers  along 
intellectual  lines  is  further  stimulated  by  much  of  the  com- 
mittee service  that  is  demanded  of  them.  Each  committee, 
when  its  work  is  properly  done,  requires  careful  planning, 
consultation,  study,  and  some  executive  ability  in  carrying 
out  its  plans.  All  these  efforts  are  distinct  wit-sharpeners; 
they  draw  upon  the  intellectual  resources  which  are  increased 
by  their  use.  The  monthly  written  reports,  and  the  annual 
surveys  of  the  work,  which  are  given  in  most  societies,  and 
should  be  expected  in  all,  are  distinctly  intellectual  acts,  and 
stimulate  the  faculty  of  expression  as  really  as  a  theme  in 
school  or  an  essay  before  a  literary  society. 

Allusion  has  already  been  made  to  the  great  number  of 
Christian  Endeavor  periodicals,  books,  and  pamphlets  in 
many  languages.  All  these  naturally  contribute  something  to 
the  intellectual  life  of  the  Society.     As  I  write  these  words, 

*  The  Congregationalist. 


christian  Endeavor  as  an  Educator.        315 


3id         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

a  request  comes  from  the  editor  of  an  important  American 
magazine,  who  proposes  to  print  an  article  on  Christian  En- 
deavor, and  says,  'Tlease  gather  together  all  the  written  and 
unwritten-  history  of  the  Society,  and  send  us  these  and  the 
photographs  at  your  earliest  convenience."  This  is  what  the 
^^  English  would  call  "rather  a  large  order,"  since  the 

"Written  printed  history  of  the  Society,  if  all  the  documents 
Unwritten  werc  available  and  were  sent  to  this  unsuspecting 
History."  g^itor,  would  fill  at  least  a  hundred  large  trunks, 
while  the  written  history  that  has  not  been  printed,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  unwritten  history,  which  it  would  be  somewhat 
difficult  to  send  to  him,  would  be  even  more  voluminous. 

However,  this  editor's  ignorance  of  the  written  and  un- 
written history  of  the  Society  may  easily  be  forgiven,  since 
doubtless  many  other  people  think  that  it  is  all  comprised  in 
a  few  booklets  or  newspaper  columns. 

Much  of  this  literature  is  of  a  distinctively  educational 
quality,  dealing,  to  be  sure,  largely  with  practical  church 
work,  methods  of  benevolence,  and  ways  of  advancing  the 
kingdom  of  Christ  on  earth.  But  why  is  not  this  of  real  edu- 
cational value,  as  well  as  the  study  of  bugs  or  fossils  or  mi- 
crobes or  animalculae?  Why  should  there  not  be  a  science  of 
practical  morality  and  religion,  as  well  as  a  science  of  rocks, 
and  mathematical  formulae?  Christian  Endeavor  has  some- 
times been  called  "the  science  of  applied  Christianity."  It/ 
is  a  good  name,  and  one  to  which  the  members  of  the  Society 
are  glad  to  feel  that  they  have  some  title. 

A  multitude  of  text-books  for  all  kinds  of  practical  re- 
ligious work  is  issued  by  the  United  Society  in  America  and 
by  the  British  and  German  national  unions.  These  have  been 
translated  into  scores  of  languages,  while  original  books,  still 
better  suited  to  their  needs,  have  been  printed  in  China  and 
Japan  and  other  Oriental  countries. 

Mr.  Amos  R.  Wells  has  truly  said:  --  - 


Christian  Endeavor  as  an  Educator.         317 

"One  of  the  greatest  things  the  United  Society  of  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  has  done  is  to  publish  a  complete  set  of  printed 
helps  for  Christian  Endeavor  work.  Never  since  time  began 
has  a  religious  movement  created  for  itself  a  set  of  helps  so 
complete  and  useful.  You  can  buy  from  the  United  Society, 
at  the  cost  of  a  few  cents,  guides  for  all  kinds  of  Christian  En- 
deavor  work.     If    it    is    an    important   committee,    like    the 


JuHANNESLUND    MISSIONARY    INSTITUTE,    STOCKHOLM, 

Where   Christian   Endeavor  Found  an   Early  Home  in   Sweden. 

prayer-meeting  committee,  you  can  get  a  book,  costing  thirty- 
five  cents,  containing  the  fullest  collection  of  prayer-meeting 
plans  ever  made,  and  all  of  them  proved  by  the  experience 
of  many  societies.  If  it  is  a  subordinate  committee,  like  the 
flower  commitee,  you  will  find  its  work  explained,  with  all 
needed  suggestions  for  new  and  delightful  outreaches,  in  a 
five-cent  pamphlet.  And  so  it  is  with  every  line  of  Christian 
Endeavor  activity.  With  a  fulness  proportioned  to  the  im- 
portance and  complexity  of  the  work  the  United  Society  have 
ready  for  your  use  a  leaflet  or  a  pamphlet  or  a  book,  and  all 
at  the  lowest  possible  cost. 


3i8  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

*'As  to  the  quality  of  these  books,  I  hesitate  to  speak,  so 
many  of  them  bear  my  own  name  on  the  cover!  But  I  can 
modestly  say  of  most  of  them  that  they  are  the  very  best  in 
existence — because  there  is  nothing  else  in  existence  of  the 
kind!  And  of  all  of  them  I  can  say  that  they  are  far  more  the 
work  of  the  Endeavorers  everywhere  than  of  myself,  being 
crammed  with  the  plans  that  their  bright  brains  have  devised 
and  their  faithful  will  executed  in  thousands  of  societies  all 
over  the  land."  * 

When  we  come  to  the  practical  methods  and 
Pians"^*'  plans  devised  by  Christian  Endeavorers,  the  writer 
is  simply  overwhelmed  with  the  amount  of  material 
at  his  hand  which  tells  how  the  young  people  have  set  their 
wits  at  work  along  every  possible  line  of  practical  Christian- 
ity. Here  is  the  "Unanimous  Library"  (to  mention  but  one 
in  this  connection),  a  novel  campaign  for  circulating  mission- 
ary books,  devised  by  Mr.  W.  L.  Amerman,  of  New  York. 
The  plan  is  too  long  to  be  detailed  in  full;  but  it  may  be  said 
in  a  word  that  it  is  a  device  for  securing  the  reading  of  inter- 
esting missionary  books  by  the  young  people.  The  campaign 
continued  for  just  ten  weeks  in  the  case  of  one  book  called 
"One  Hundred  Girls  of  India;"  and,  when  the  returns  were 
all  in,  it  was  found  that  438  people  in  all  had  read  the  book, 
and  that  of  these  the  enthusiastic  Juniors  had  secured  the 
largest  number  of  readers. 

Such  plans,  more  or  less  elaborate  for  all  departments  of 
work,  have  been  printed  in  every  issue  of  The  Christian  En- 
deavor World  for  nearly  twenty  years,  and  the  editor  always 
has  scores  of  plans  on  hand  for  which  he  cannot  find  room. 
When  these  are  all  brought  together,  the  bulk  of  them,  and 
in  many  cases  their  excellence  is  simply  surprising. 

The  local-union  meetings  and  other  conventions  have 
stimulated  the  wits  of  a  multitude  of  young  people,  in  pre- 
paring programmes,  in  devising  something  fresh  and  new,  in 

*  The  Christian  Endeavor  World. 


Christian  Endeavor  as  an  Educator.  319 

learning  the  art  of  putting  things,  for  to  suggest  a  good  title 
for  an  address  or  conference. is  one  of  the  best  tests  of  intel- 
lectual keenness. 

The  Australian  programmes  have  been  models  of  typo- 
graphical beauty,  with  which  has  often  been  combined  a  liter- 
ary excellence  which  has  made  them  souvenirs  worthy  of  pres- 
ervation. 
^,.     ,  ,.  The  social  gatherings  have  also  often  been  in- 

Stimulating  ^  ° 

Social  tellectually  stimulating.     Two  or  three  small  vol- 

rings.  ^j^gg  Q^  plans  for  sociables  have  been  published; 
and  the  ingenuity,  wit,  and  literary  skill  displayed  in  many  of 
them  would  scarcely  be  credited  by  those  who  know  nothing 
of  the  subject.  Authors  in  many  languages,  proverbs,  quota- 
tions from  every  source,  have  been  laid  under  contribution  by 
these  keen  young  minds  in  devising  social  gatherings  which 
shall  be  helpful  as  well  as  interesting,  and  which  provide  the 
fellowship  feature  of  Christian  Endeavor. 

Missionary  reading-circles  have  recently  come  greatly 
into  vogue,  and  hundreds  of  societies  have  formed  such  cir- 
cles for  the  reading  and  study  of  the  books  prescribed  by  their 
denominational  missionary  authorities. 

Collections  of  missionary  curios,  too,  often  stimulate  in- 
terest, and  arouse  intellectual  curiosity.  The  Church  of  Eng- 
land Endeavourer  tells  of  a  little  society  in  a  country  place 
whose  members,  numbering  only  twenty-five  in  all,  set  to  work 
to  gather  missionary  curios  for  an  exhibition,  and  found  to 
their  surprise  that  after  three  months'  work  they  had  a  collec- 
tion of  three  hundred  pieces,  representing  India,  China,  Mad- 
agascar, and  the  South  Seas.  Nearly  everything  was  found 
in  the  neighborhood.  Members  of  the  society,  dressed  in  for- 
eign attire,  described  the  articles  as  they  were  on  exhibition 
during  an  afternoon,  and  in  the  evening  a  rousing  missionary 
meeting  was  held  and  a  substantial  collection  taken. 

Professor  Wells  has  projected  several  courses  of  Bible- 


320         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

reading  in  the  columns  of  The  Christian  Endeavor  World, 
one  of  which  was  followed  by  more  than  ten  thousand  people 
who  recorded  their  names,  while  all  have  enlisted  many 
readers. 

Reading-circles  have  very  often  been  organized  in  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  societies  for  the  study  of  general  literature,  and 
an  excellent  reading-course  has  been  suggested  by  The  Chris- 
tian Endeavour  Times  of  London  and  by  the  American  papers 
as  well.  The  good-literature  committees  of  many  societies 
have  been  active  in  circulating  denominational  and  other  re- 
ligious papers,  and  probably  millions  of  copies  of  papers  and 
magazines  have  been  sent  by  different  unions  and  societies  to 
hospitals,  soldiers'  and  sailors'  homes,  and  other  institutions 
in  all  parts  of  the  world.  A  literature-table  is  a  common 
sight  in  many  churches.  It  oftentimes  stands  in  the  vestibule, 
and  is  made  an  exchange  for  the  circulation  of  religious  and 
other  papers  and  magazines,  the  Christian  Endeavorers  taking 
charge  of  it,  keeping  it  in  order,  and  collecting  and  distrib- 
uting the  reading-matter  which  is  supplied. 

A  more  recent  development  of  the  intellectual 
Endeavor  life  of  Christian  Endeavor  is  seen  in  the  many  in- 
Schoois'*  stitutes  and  summer  schools  and  officers'  schools, 
and  committee  conferences,  which  are  now  being 
held  in  many  countries.  The  schools  of  methods  are  essen- 
tial parts  of  every  large  convention  in  these  days.  Half  a 
score  of  them  sometimes  are  being  held  at  the  same  time.  In 
these  every  phase  of  practical  Christianity  is  discussed  and 
taught.  The  committees,  the  social  gatherings,  the  prayer- 
meeting,  the  missionary  work  of  the  church,  temperance  and 
good  citizenship,  all  come  under  review,  and  plans  are  sug- 
gested and  discussed  for  advancing  every  good  cause. 

The  first  distinctive  Christian  Endeavor  summer  school 
was  held  in  the  birth-State  of  Christian  Endeavor,  as  was  alto- 
gether appropriate,  and  the  Rev.  C.  D.  Crane,  the  efficient 


Evangelistic  Endeavor. 


321 


field  secretary  of  the  Maine  Union,  was  the  father  of  it.  It 
was  held  in  Yarmouth,  Me.,  July  8-26,  1892.  The  scope  and 
character  of  this  school  can  best  be  understood  by  a  description 
which  appeared  in  The  Christian  Endeavor  World  at  the 
time. 


"Every  morning  was  divided  into  four  periods.     Two  of 
these  throughout  were  in  charge  of  Miss   Margaret  Koch. 


'»^  *" 

rt' 

.*^A' 

MikK 

f 

SB^^ISag^'MB^aSll^^^BHIf^^Pj 

' 

K^.l 

■ 

'"''Hu 

^^ 

I 

^tM^M 

^aiaMII'Ji^i'l    ■  1 

^5^^B 

jL      Hi  ^ 

•  -;JB 

^ 

•  wHH 

1^  ^m 

'^wS.  ."*  J 

S^ftJ 

^ti 

IM  S^HI^I 

% 

^^^^^^^^^ 

ifici 

jL-m^ 

^^V. 

p^^ 

■  A^ 

^Hr  4^' 

rf;^      J 

,. 

n 

K 

^^H5^H 

Christian  Endeavor     Summer   School,   Yarmouth,   Me. 

National  conventions  have  shown  the  Endeavorers  what  an 
inspiring  speaker  Miss  Koch  is,  inspiring  in  her  splendid  phys- 
ical presence  as  well  as  in  the  vigorous  thought  to  which  she 
gives  such  graceful  utterance.  Her  work  was  a  daily  drill  in 
expression  and  in  voice  and  physical  culture,  a  genuine  tonic 
for  both  mind  and  body. 

"There  was  also  a  daily  hour  of  Bible-study  conducted 
by  Rev.  Bowley  Green,  Dr.  Smith  Baker,  and  Rev.  Howard 
Grose — masters,  all  of  them,  in  the  art  of  teaching. 

31 


322  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

"The  fourth  hour  was  given  up  to  practical  instruction  in 
Christian  Endeavor  methods  of  work.  Rev.  H.  W.  Pope 
gave  a  course  in  personal  work  and  soul-winning;  Professor 
Parker  treated  Christian  Endeavor  music;  Miss  Ella  Mac- 
Laurin  spoke  of  mission  studies,  and  Mr.  Wells  of  Christi-an 
Endeavor  committee  work. 

"The  afternoons  were  spent  in  various  excursions  through 
the  charming  neighborhood,  in  quiet  reading  and  happy  fun. 

"The  evening  sessions  were  popular  in  character,  and 
were  given  up  to  lectures  and  addresses,  several  with  the  aid 
of  the  stereopticon.  .  .  .  The  Endeavorers  that  attended 
were  well  fed.  They  carried  away  minds  that  were  enriched 
in  many  ways,  and  the  food  they  received  they  had  time  to 
digest.     There  is  much  in  that." 

This  first  summer  school  was  so  successful  in  Maine  that 
it  was  followed  by  others  in  the  same  State,  and  in  1905  one 
was  held  in  the  eastern  and  another  in  the  western  part  of  the 
State  in  order  the  better  to  accommodate  the  needs  of  the 
widely  scattered  Endeavorers  in  this  commonwealth  of  mag- 
nificent distances. 

A  Maine's  example  has  been  followed  by  other 

Home  States,  and  the  most  notable  example  of  the  summer- 

ChHstian  school  idea  will  soon  be  introduced  on  the  coast  of 
Endeavor.  Massachusetts,  where  some  Christian  Endeavor 
leaders,  backed  by  ample  capital,  have  secured  a  large  tract 
of  land  on  the  shores  of  Cape  Cod  Bay.  This  has  every  pos- 
sible natural  advantage,  a  long  sea-front,  the  land  rising  in 
beautifully  wooded  terraces  behind,  while  a  fresh-water  lake 
but  a  little  distance  off  is  also  connected  with  the  Christian 
Endeavor  summer  home.  Here  will  be  erected  a  pavilion 
and  audience-room,  and  schools  of  methods  will  be  estab- 
lished, as  well  as  mission-study  schools  and  literary  classes, 
which  will  make  the  place  an  intellectual  centre  for  a  multi- 
tude of  young  people.  That  it  is  intended  to  be  a  recreational 
centre,  too,  is  made  evident  by  the  fact  that  baseball  diamonds 


christian  Endeavor  as  an  Educator. 


323 


and   tennis-courts,    bowling-alleys    and   basket-ball    and   golf 
links  are  all  in  the  plan. 

Along  other  lines,  too,  the  intellectual  side  of  Christian 
Endeavor  has  been  stimulated  by  the  many  "institutes"  and 
"conferences"  which  have  lately  been  inaugurated.  One  of 
the  most  notable  of  these,  and  the  forerunner  of  many  others, 
was  held  in  Philadelphia  in  December,  1903.  For  three  days 
the  trustees  of  the  United  Society  and  many  leading  Endeavor- 
ers,  largely  officers  of  State  and  local  unions,  came  together 
for  a  simple  conference  and  exchange  of  views.  Not  a  single 
long  speech  was  permitted  during  the  morning  or  the  after- 


New   Summer  Home  of  Christian  Endeavor  at 
Sagamore  Beach. 

noon  sessions.  A  printed  syllabus  prepared  in  advance  cov- 
ered every  phase  of  Christian  Endeavor  work,  and  this  was 
taken  up,  item  by  item,  under  the  leadership  of  some  expert 
worker,  and  freely,  but  very  briefly,  discussed  by  all  on  the 
floor.  It  was  a  most  profitable  and  stimulating  occasion,  and 
one  which  has  since  been  duplicated  in  many  places.  On  a 
still  larger  scale  it  was  repeated  in  New  York  in  February, 
1906. 

Institutes  In  1905  New  Jersey  had  the  first  School  for 

Junior  Junior   Superintendents  at  Asbury  Park,   and   the 

Schools.  "Christian  Endeavor  Institute  of  the  Northwest," 
held  at  Portland,  Or.,  in  connection  with  the  Lewis  and  Clark 


324         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

Exposition,  will  long  be  remembered.  Secretary  Von  Ogden 
Vogt  attended  this  institute,  and  gave  valuable  help,  much  of 
interest  being  added  by  the  very  efficient  leaders  of  Christian 
Endeavor  in  the  great  Northw^est. 

About  the  same  time  New  York,  under  the  leadership  of 
the  honored  State  secretary,  Mr.  John  R.  Clements,  whose 
mind  is  most  fertile  in  such  plans,  held  the  first  school  for 
district  secretaries  at  Liberty.  This  was  attended  by  many 
of  the  secretaries  of  the  Empire  State,  and  was  most  useful 
in  equipping  them  for  their  important  duties  in  their  respec- 
tive counties. 

Another  important  institute  was  held  in  Maryland  in  the 
same  year,  while  the  ten  "Patriot  Day  Rallies"  held  in  Massa- 
chusetts on  April  19,  the  anniversary  of  the  battle  of  Lexing- 
ton and  the  Concord  fight,  it  has  been  well  said,  "might  be 
classed  as  civic  educators." 

It  is  not  necessary  to  dwell  longer  upon  the  methods  and 
plans  for  stimulating  the  intellectual  life  of  the  young  Chris- 
tians. They  are  constantly  being  multiplied,  and  will  doubt- 
less increase  as  the  years  go  by,  for  the  Society  realizes  that  it 
is  the  whole  man,  body  and  mind  as  well  as  soul,  which  should 
be  trained  for  the  Master's  service. 

One  practical  method  of  stimulating  the  intellectual  life 
which  may  be  mentioned  is  the  Christian  Endeavor  sympo- 
sium which  often  appears  in  The  Christian  Endeavor  World. 
As  an  example  of  this,  and  also  as  showing  the  various  angles 
from  which  the  young  people  look  at  the  Society  and  estimate 
its  work,  it  is  interesting  to  quote  some  definitions  which  were 
printed  in  a  prize  contest  for  the  best  aphoristic  definition  of 
Christian  Endeavor  in  twenty-five  words.  Two  hundred  and 
fifty  Endeavorers  sharpened  their  wits  upon  this  problem. 
Their  exuberant  fancy,  as  was  said,  "ranged  over  the  whole 
gamut  of  simile,  alliteration,  and  acrostic  description."  Here 
are  a  few  of  the  250  definitions,  which  are  samples  of  many 


Evangelistic  Endeavor.  325 

others,   and  which  were   all  worthy  of  prizes,   though  they 
could  not  all  receive  them. 

"Christian  Endeavor  is  interdenominationalism  verified, 
the  baggage-car  of  Christian  brotherhood,  carrying  packages 
differently  labelled,  but  not  thereby  destroying  the  unity  of 
the  train." 

"Christian  Endeavor  is  the  workshop  where  Jesus,  the 
carpenter's  Son,  sharpens  the  instruments  which  He  uses  in  the 
daily  construction  of  His  churches." 

"Christian  Endeavor  is  the  mint  where  metals  are  coined 
and  stamped  with  the  King's  own  likeness." 

"Christian  Endeavor  is  a  schoolmaster  aiming  to  bring 
his  scholars  to  perfect  manhood  and  womanhood  in  Christ 
Jesus." 

"Christian  Endeavor  reaches  upward  with  faith,  reaches 
forward  with  hope,  and  reaches  outward  with  love." 

"Christian  Endeavor  is  the  X-ray  that  brings  to  light  the 
hidden  power  of  the  young  people  in  the  church." 

"As  the  Sunday-school  is  the  recruiting-station,  so  the 
Christian  Endeavor  society  is  the  West  Point  of  Christ's 
army." 

"Christian  Endeavor 

is  a 

Co-operative  Exercise 

of 

Consecrated  Enthusiasm 

for 

Creating  Energy 

toward 
Christian  Ends. 

"Christian  Endeavor  is  like  an  endless  chain,  it  binds  the 
forces  together,  and  makes  them  work  in  unison." 


326         christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

"Christian  Endeavor  is  the  practical  recognition  of  the 
young  people's  need  of  Christ  and  the  church,  and  of  the 
church's  need  of  the  young  people." 

Christian  Endeavor  is  the  manual  training-school  of  the 
church,  training 

the  lips  to  speak, 
the  feet  to  walk, 
the  hands  to  work, 
FOR  CHRIST. 

"Christian  Endeavor  is  the  electric  current  from  the  bat- 
tery of  heaven,  uniting  in  Christian  love  and  enthusiastic  serv- 
ice the  youth  of  all  Christian  denominations." 

"Christian  Endeavor  is  the  youth's  shortest  possible  cut 
across  the  fields  of  experience  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 

"Like  Jacob's  shining  ladder. 
Uplifted  strong  and  high, 
Where  deeds  and  prayers,  like  angels, 
Pass  'twixt  the  earth  and  sky." 

"Christian  Endeavor  is  a  school 
Teaching  us  to  trust  and  obey. 
To  read  and  to  pray. 
To  serve  Christ  and  the  church  in  every  way." 

"A  correct  epitome  of  Christian  Endeavor  is 
Constant  Enthusiasm, 
Consecrated  Energy, 
Consecrated  Effort, 
For  'Christ  and  the  church.'  " 

"Christian  Endeavor  is  a  watch 
Whose  mainspring  is  love. 
Whose  movement  is  service. 
Whose  hands  point  to  heavenly  joys  on  the  dial  of  eternity."  ■ 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

EVANGELISTIC  ENDEAVOR  AT  HOME 
AND  ABROAD. 

WHEREIN  IT  IS  SHOWN  THAT  THE  SOCIETY  HAS  INTRO- 
DUCED SOME  NEW  FEATURES  OF  EVANGELISM,  AND 
HAS  DEVELOPED  SOME  EVANGELISTIC  LEADERS  AND 
EVANGELISTIC  METHODS  IN  CONNECTION  WITH  ITS 
UNION  MEETINGS  AND  GREAT  CONVENTIONS. 

"  A  Christian  Endeavor  society  born  in  a  revival  has  ad- 
vantage every  way  over  one  organized  under  different  spiritual 
conditions.  It  commands  better  material  at  the  start  and  a 
more  favorable  opportunity  for  putting  its  principles  into  opera- 
tion. It  thus  represents  not  exceptional  but  normal  conditions, 
and  accordingly  is  able  to  demonstrate  the  utility,  power,  and 
practical  efficiency  of  the  organization." 

Rev.  Dwizht  M.  Pratt,  D.D., 
in  "  A  Decade  of  Christian  Endeavor." 

EVANGELISM  is  entirely  normal  to  Christian  En- 
|)  deavor.  It  is  its  native  air.  Christian  Endeavor 
jl  was  born  in  the  atmosphere  of  a  revival,  and  it 
has  always  flourished  best  in  such  an  atmosphere. 
But  evangelism  is  a  very  large  word.  It 
means  many  things,  but  always  one  thing.  It  means  standing 
on  the  street-corner  and  saying  to  the  passers-by,  "Come  to 
Jesus!"  But  it  means  more  than  that.  It  means  going  into 
the  slums  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost,  but  it  also 
means  using  every  effort  to  bring  to  Christ  the  children  of  the 
high-born  and  the  well-to-do.  The  quieter  methods  of  the 
lookout  committee  and  of  the  consecration-meeting  are  truly 

2,^7 


328         christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

evangelistic  methods,  for  they  are  imbued  with  the  evangelis- 
tic spirit. 

Though  evangelism,  like  charity,  may  begin  at  home,  it 
can  not  remain  at  home,  for  all  missionary  effort  in  the  re- 
motest parts  of  the  world  is  really  but  a  feature  of  evangelism, 
and  toward  all  these  methods  and  forms  of  proclaiming  the 
gospel,  the  good  news,  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement 
could  not  but  be  hospitable;  for  "to  do  the  work  of  an  evan- 
gelist" in  its  broadest  sense  has  been  from  the  beginning  its 
great  purpose  and  mission. 

The  Christian  Endeavor  covenant  pledge  has  been  used 
by  many  a  minister  and  Christian  worker  as  a  distinct  evangel- 
istic agency.  More  than  one  pastor  whom  it  has  been  the 
writer's  privilege  to  know,  has  constantly  carried  a  supply  of 
these  pledges  in  his  pocket;  and,  whenever  he  has  found  a 
young  person  inclined  seriously  to  consider  religious  matters, 
"almost  persuaded,"  but  perhaps  not  quite  ready  to  make  the 
great  decision,  he  has  handed  him  one  of  these  little  cards  wjth 
the  pledge  upon  it,  and  has  said:  "Are  you  willing  to  trust 
in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  for  strength,  and  are  you  willing  to 
try  to  do  what  He  would  have  you  do?  If  so,  just  sign  your 
name  to  this  card,  and  put  your  purpose  down  in  black  and 
white."  This  has  seemed  so  reasonable  and  possible  that 
many  a  young  person  has  then  and  there  made  the  decision 
which  has  proved  the  turning-point  in  all  his  life,  and  the 
beginning  of  many  years  of  Christian  service. 

But  the  Society  has  made  special  efforts,  and 
^^^^  developed    new    features    in    evangelism,    which 

Features  ^       ^  . 

in  which  should  not  be  overlooked.      Christian  En- 

Evangel=  ,  t^  1  •  r      1  •  • 

ism.  deavor    Day,    the    anniversary    of    the    society,    is 

specially  an  evangelistic  day  from  two  points  of 
view.  It  is  a  day  when  in  a  great  many  churches  decisions 
are  called  for  in  the  Sunday-school  and  young  people's  meet- 
ing, and  when  the  boys  and  girls  who  have  previously  been  in- 


Evangelistic  Endeavor.  329 

structed  and  taught  their  duty  are  urged  to  declare  themselves 
on  the  side  of  Christ.  It  is  also  a  day  when  contributions  are 
made  in  thousands  of  societies  for  the  denominational  mis- 
sionary boards,  and  thus,  more  indirectly,  but  none  the  less 
really,  the  work  of  evangelism  is  promoted  by  providing 
means  for  the  proclamation  of  the  gospel  in  far-distant  lands. 
The  use  of  Christian  Endeavor  Day  as  "Decision  Day," 
especially  for  the  boys  and  girls,  is  a  somewhat  recent  sugges- 


First   Mothers'    Society   of   Christian   Endeavor,    Topeka,    Kansas. 

tion  of  the  United  Society  in  America;  but  it  has  already  been 
heartily  adopted  by  many  churches.  The  way  in  which  one 
church*  keeps  Decision  Day  with  system  and  vigor  coupled 
with  rare  good  sense  and  spiritual  zeal  is  described  by  Dr. 
J.  F.  Cowan  in  The  Christian  Endeavor  World. 

"At  the  morning  service  a  sermon   is  preached  appro- 
priate to  the  day  and  full  of  inspiration,  by  the  pastor.     At 

*  The  Congregational  church  of  Melrose,  Mass.,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Sims,  D.D., 
pastor. 


330  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

3.15  a  union  service  of  the  Junior  societies  is  held,  with  bright 
speakers.  At  5  p.  m.  a  special  Christian  Endeavor  service 
is  held  in  the  auditorium.  At  6.30  the  Young  People's  meet- 
ing is  held  as  usual.  At  both  the  latter  services  cards  con- 
taining decision  pledges  (practically  the  first  clause  of  the 
pledge)  are  distributed.  As  many  as  feel  ready  to  do  so  are 
asked  to  sign  the  card  and  leave  it  in  the  pew.  There  have 
always  been  some  decisions,  and  what  would  otherwise  have 
been  an  unspeakably  sad  death  was  blessedly  softened  and 
sweetened  by  the  fact  that  the  little  girl  who  passed  away 
clasped  in  her  hand  the  decision-card  she  had  signed  on  En- 
deavor Day." 

The  Sunday-evening  after-meeting  is  another  rare  oppor- 
tunity for  evangelistic  service,  into  which  many  pastors  wisely 
press  their  Endeavorers.  Dr.  Charles  M.  Sheldon,  as  has  been 
before  stated,  advocates  making  this  the  great  young  people's 
evangelistic  service  of  the  week  for  the  actual  bringing  of  men 
to  a  decision  for  Christ,  and  in  his  own  experience  has  proved 
the  vast  usefulness  of  such  a  plan. 

The  First  Baptist  Church  of  Chicago  has 
Evangelistic  been  another  leader  in  this  line  of  Christian  En- 
deavor evangelistic  effort.  Under  the  lead  of  the 
pastor.  Dr.  Austin  K.  de  Blois,  and  Mr.  H.  H.  Van  Meter, 
who  is  also  the  evangelistic  superintendent  of  the  Chicago 
Christian  Endeavor  Union,  a  Christian  Endeavor  evangelistic 
covenant  has  been  drawn  up,  which  many  members  have  signed, 
promising  prayerfully  to  co-operate  with  the  pastor  in  evan- 
gelistic effort,  to  invite  unconverted  friends  and  acquaintances 
to  the  services  and  welcome  them  when  they  come,  to  attend 
the  regular  preaching-services  and  after-meetings  unless  ab- 
solutely prevented,  to  request  at  least  one  visitor  to  remain  to 
each  after-meeting,  and  to  endeavor  to  lead  at  least  one  person 
each  month  to  the  Savior.  Many  of  the  members  signed  this 
covenant,  with  the  result  that  the  numbers  at  the  Sabbath- 
evening  services  have  been  more  than  doubled  and  the  after- 


Evangelistic  Endeavor.  331 

meetings  greatly  increased  in  attendance  and  interest,   and 
many  conversions  have  followed. 

Those  that  feel  that  they  cannot  take  the  whole  of  the 
covenant  blot  out  the  parts  which  they  cannot  conscientiously 
sign,  and  keep  the  rest.  One  young  man,  whose  circum- 
stances prevented  him  from  observing  some  parts  of  this 
pledge,  kept  it  in  spirit  most  effectively  by  having  hotel-guest 
cards  printed,  inviting  the  guests  of  every  large  hotel  in  Chi- 
cago to  attend  the  church  services.  Every  Saturday  night  at 
midnight  he  fastens  them  to  the  complete  church  programme 
for  the  following  Sabbath,  and  leaves  them  himself  upon  the 
hotel  counters  to  invite  the  visitors  to  attend  the  services. 

This  hotel  visitation  and  invitation  is  undertaken  by  a 
great  many  unions,  as  well  as  individual  societies;  and  church 
directories  in  hotel  corridors  and  neatly  printed  invitations 
that  hotel  guests  find  in  their  boxes  on  Sunday  morning  are 
often  the  result  of  these  evangelistic  efforts. 

Many  unions  have  deemed  it  one  of  their  chief  duties  to 
promote  the  evangelistic  spirit  in  other  ways  and  actually  to 
do  large  evangelistic  service.  The  uniting  of  all  the  younger 
evangelical  forces  of  the  city  in  a  Christian  Endeavor  union, 
or  at  least  the  uniting  of  a  very  large  majority  of  them,  makes 

this  a  peculiarly  fitting  and  appropriate  duty. 
Efforts '^ ''^  The  Brooklyn  Union,  under  the  lead  of  its 

Unions  president,  Mr.  W.  R.  Hassel,  has  been  particularly 
active  and  successful  in  this  work.  Pastors  of  all 
denominations  have  co-operated,  and  great  evangelistic  meet- 
ings have  resulted.  Of  late  a  special  school  for  evangelistic 
instruction  in  the  art  of  soul-winning  has  been  conducted  un- 
der an  expert  leader,  from  which  in  the  future  splendid  re- 
sults will  doubtless  flow. 

The  Chicago  Endeavorers'  evangelistic  campaign  has 
been  most  fruitful,  and  not  without  its  humorous  side,  as  re- 
lated by  Mr.  H.  H.  Van  Meter,  the  superintendent. 


332  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

"Frequently  we  received  a  'bouquet',  generally  of  stale 
vegetables,  never  flowers.  It  is  our  invariable  rule  never  to 
take  up  a  collection,  but,  then,  we  received  many.  Mostly 
mud  and  stones,  but  once  upon  a  time  a  sharpshooter  plugged 
a  cornet  with  a  potato. 

"The  cornetist  was  a  University  of  Chicago  boy,  who  of 
course  knows  a  good  deal  (as  we  all  do).  But  nobody  knows 
what  would  have  become  of  his  nose  if  he  had  not  caught  that 
potato  in  his  cornet. 

"On  that  same  occasion  one  of  our  sweetest  girls  got  very 
indignant  because  of  a  lemonade  shower-bath.  A  'real  nice 
young  man'  had  volunteered  to  stand  by  her  side,  and  he  'was 
singing  beautifully.'  But  somebody  above  drenched  them 
both  with  lemonade,  spoiling  his  suit  and  her  'new  shirt-waist.' 

"When  we  told  her  it  would  wash  off,  she  refused  to  be 
comforted;  but,  when  I  said  very  emphatically,  'It  is  seldom 
we  are  treated  to  lemonade  at  an  open-air  meeting,  and  I'm 
glad  we  didn't  get  the  pitcher,'  she  replied,  'O,  so  am  I ;  O  my! 
Omy!'" 

Mr.  Van  Meter  goes  on  to  tell  how  opposition  by  the  mob 
was  followed  by  the  opposition  of  the  priests,  and  that  by  op- 
position from  the  police,  who,  in  spite  of  the  permit  for  such 
services,  received  from  the  proper  authorities,  did  everything 
they  could  to  annoy  and  break  up  the  meetings.  At  one  time 
the  patrol-wagon  was  rung  up,  and  the  Endeavorers  took  a 
ride  in  it  to  the  police-station,  knowing  that  their  case  was  per- 
fectly good,  and  that  they  would  be  immediately  discharged. 
This  discharge  the  chief  of  course  at  once  granted  upon  seeing 

their  permit.  "Then,"  said  Mr.  Van  Meter,  "the 
"Hmnor."     t)oys  made  the  old  Harrison   Street  police-station 

ring  as  never  before." 

"The  big  horns  and  the  trombones,  the  bass  drum  and  the 
snare-drum,  did  their  best.  It  was  about  the  best  surprise- 
party  ever  perpetrated  upon  the  police.  Everybody  enjoyed 
it,  even  the  prisoners,  as  well  as  the  police ;  then  we  'moved  on.' 

"When  we  reached  the  street,  there  stood  the  crowd,  still 


Evang:elistic  Endeavor. 


333 


334         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

waiting  for  'more  music'  But  the  firemen  next  door  insisted 
that  they  should  have  their  share.  They  said  they  would  fix 
the  telephones  so  that  the  music  would  reach  every  engine- 
house  in  Chicago. 

"That  invitation  told;  so  the  band  formed  a  semicircle 
around  the  receiver.  After  playing  a  few  gospel  airs  we  sang 
At  the  Cross.'  In  conclusion  we  prayed  for  the  police  and 
the  firemen,  'who  face  danger  and  death  for  us.'  Every  hat 
went  off;  every  head  was  bowed;  then  we  said  good-by,  and 
were  gone.  They  called  out,  'Come  again,'  and  we  answered 
that  we  would;  and  we  will  most  surely." 

A  protest  to  the  chief  of  police  made  his  subordinates  fear 
to  disturb  the  meetings  any  further,  and  the  outside  difficulties, 
at  least,  of  the  Chicago  Endeavorers  are  now  largely  things  of 
the  past. 

An  Intermediate  Christian  Endeavor  evanee- 

An 

Evangelistic  listic  cruisc  is  another  of  the  bright  ideas  for  which 
Chicago  Endeavorers  are  responsible.  Starting 
from  their  home  city  in  a  gasoline  launch  copiously  decorated 
with  Christian  Endeavor  banners  and  mottoes,  with  a  power- 
ful searchlight  at  the  prow,  they  turned,  unheralded,  into  the 
old  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal,  which  is  so  seldom  navigated 
now  that  the  appearance  of  their  boat  with  its  flags  and 
streamers,  we  are  told,  "astonished  the  natives."  At  every 
lock,  while  they  were  waiting  for  the  water  to  rise,  a  little 
meeting  would  be  held  for  the  small  company  of  loungers  that 
gathered  together.  Jails  and  poorhouses  were  visited  on  the 
way;  tracts  were  distributed  and  many  personal  invitations 
given.  After  two  or  three  days  of  such  pleasant  journeying 
they  reached  their  destination  at  Starved  Rock,  and  pitched 
their  tents,  and  enjoyed  a  few  days  of  camping  out.  Then  they 
returned  homeward  by  another  route,  visiting  other  jails  and 
poorhouses,  holding  open-air  services  in  many  towns,  and 
bringing  the  gospel  to  the  very  homes  and  hearts  of  those  who 
had  not  heard  it  for  many  years.     While  this  was  called  an 


Evangelistic  Endeavor.  335 

"Intermediate  Cruise,"  and  while  there  were  boys  and  girls  in 
the  party,  there  were  also,  of  course,  experienced  men  and 
women  to  guide  them  and  lead  in  the  evangelism. 

No  one  has  done  more  to  awaken  the  spirit  of  evangelism 
among  Endeavorers  than  Mr.  William  Phillips  Hall,  the 
eminent  business  men's  evangelist,  who  has  often  spoken  at 
the  conventions  with  great  acceptance. 

The  great  conventions  naturally  furnish  the  largest  op- 


Men's  Meeting  During  Convention  at  Washington,   D.   C. 


portunity  for  evangelistic  efifort,  and  this  is  thoroughly  im- 
proved. Careful  plans  are  always  made  to  reach  the  largest 
number  of  people  in  all  parts  of  the  city  where  the  convention 
is  held.  The  scope  of  these  evangelistic  services  may  be 
gathered  from  the  fact  that  in  one  convention  they  were  held 
in  fifty-five  different  places.  The  list  includes  three  piano- 
factories,  three  wood-working  establishments,  an  organ-fac- 
tory, a  bookbindery,  carriage-works,  a  bank-note  company,  a 
clothing-house,  a  rubber-store,  a  screw-factory,  a  coal-yard,  a 
printing-house,  three  laundries,  a  dry-goods  store,  a  market- 


336  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

house,  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  the  Homoeopathic  Hospi- 
tal, the  Lend-a-Hand  Hospital,  a  liquor-saloon,  a  fire-engine 
station,  the  city  jail,  a  man-of-war  in  the  harbor,  seven  res- 
,.  ^.    cue    missions,    fourteen    open-air    meetings,    four 

Evangelistic  '  _  ^  . 

Services  wharves,  and  a  service  held  at  the  request  of  a  sick 
Great  girl  on  the  pavement  before  her  window. 

Conventions.  jvg-^    fewer    than    1 20    evangelistic    meetings, 

according  to  definite  reports,  were  held  by  delegates  in 
these  different  places.  Twenty  thousand  persons  were 
spoken  to,  and  nearly  six  thousand  delegates  to  the  conven- 
tion assisted  in  the  services,  while  several  hundred  persons 
expressed  a  desire  to  become  Christians. 

At  these  conventions  the  most  eminent  evangelists  in  the 
world  have  frequently  spoken.  Men  like  Dwight  L.  Moody, 
the  Rev.  J.  Wilbur  Chapman,  D.  D.,  the  Rev.  John  McNeill, 
Gipsy  Smith,  the  Rev.  George  F.  Pentecost,  D.  D.,  the  Rev. 
William  E.  Biederwolf,  Dr.  W.  H.  Hallenbeck,  and  others 
of  their  character  have  often  taken  part.  In  connection 
with  the  conventions  hotel  evangelistic  meetings  have  fre- 
quently been  held.  The  writer  especially  remembers  one 
held  in  the  court  of  the  great  Palace  Hotel  of  San  Francisco. 
Many  Endeavorers  were  stopping  there,  and  after  the  even- 
ing service  in  the  halls  they  gathered  in  the  courtyard,  all  the 
other  guests  being  attracted  by  the  music  of  some  of  the  best 
soloists.  Then,  one  after  another,  some  of  the  most  eminent 
ministers  of  half  a  dozen  different  denominations  told  the 
simple  story  of  their  conversion,  while  fashionable  guests, 
merchant  princes,  and  eminent  politicians,  among  them  the 
Democratic  candidate  for  the  presidency  in  the  campaign 
that  was  then  on,  looked  from  the  balconies,  or  stood  under 
the  courtyard  palms. 

Such  meetings,  so  far  as  the  writer  has  observed,  have 
never  been  resented  or  objected  to  by  hotel  proprietors  or 
guests,  nor  have  they  seemed  intrusive.     In  fact,  they  are  so 


Evangelistic  Endeavor.  337 

sane  and  natural,  and  the  convention  makes  religion  so  ex- 
pected and  matter-of-course  a  topic  of  conversation,  that  it 
would  seem  unnatural,  were  such  meetings  not  held. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  evangelistic  meetings  ever 
held  under  Christian  Endeavor  auspices  was  the  men's  meet- 
ing in  the  Armory  in  Baltimore,  where  on  an  intensely  hot 
^Sunday  afternoon  five  or  six  thousand  men  came  together. 
Addresses  of  great  power  were  made  by  Mr.  Stelzle  and  Mr. 
Biederwolf ;  and  then,  says  the  report, 

"came  an  intense  appeal  for  men  to  show  by 
A  Scene  rising  that  they  would  enter  the  Christian  life  and 
Baltimore.     ^^^^  ^^^Y  wanted  the  prayers  of  Christians.     One 

man  rose,  another,  several  in  different  places. 
They  remained  standing  but  a  few  moments,  but  there  was  a 
steady  succession  until  scores  would  be  on  their  feet  at  once 
in  all  parts  of  the  hall.  Mr.  F.  H.  Jacobs  uttered  in  song  a 
tender  and  appealing  prayer.  The  evangelist,  standing  on  a 
table  to  gain  a  more  commanding  position,  put  all  his  energy 
into  a  last  appeal  to  do  the  right  and  manly  thing,  and  then 
asked  all  who  had  risen  to  come  forward  and  stand  while 
prayer  was  offered  for  them.  Hundreds  of  hands  also  went 
up  from  those  that  wished  prayers  to  be  offered  for  friends. 
Christian  workers  had  been  supplied  with  cards  that  were 
circulated  for  signature  by  those  that  had  decided  for  Christ. 
Meantime,  Mr.  Biederwolf  and  others  were  passing  around, 
grasping  the  hands  of  those  that  had  taken  the  stand,  between 
three  and  four  hundred  in  all,  many  of  whom  were  deeply 
moved  and  in  tears.  As  the  great  crowd  gradually  passed 
out  from  this  wonderfully  blessed  meeting,  the  choir  softly 
sang,  'God  be  with  you  till  we  meet  again.'  " 

The  missionary  side  of  Christian  Endeavor  evangelism 
is  too  large  a  theme  to  enter  upon  in  this  chapter.  In  the 
sections  of  the  book  devoted  to  missionary  lands  this  feature 
will  be  brought  out.  It  is  sufficient  here  to  say  that  from  the 
very  beginning  the  Endeavor  societies  have  made  missionary 
22 


338 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


work  and  missionary  giving  one  of  the  chief  features  of  their 
organization.  It  has  been  found,  so  far  as  can  be  estimated, 
that  about  250,000  Endeavorers  every  year  join  the  evan- 
gelical churches  of  the  world,  the  result,  in  part,  at  least,  of 
personal  Christian  Endeavor  evangelism.  It  is  also  found, 
even  from  the  meagre  statistics  which  can  be  obtained  from 
the  fraction  of  societies  that  report  that  these  give  away  nearly 
one  million  dollars  every  year,  about  half  of  which  goes  for 


Raw    Material    for    Christian    Endeavor    in    Africa. 

the  evangelization  of  the  world  through  the  denominational 
missionary  organizations. 

Many  a  unique  missionary  effort  has  been  undertaken  by 
Christian  Endeavorers,  a  sample  of  which  is  furnished  by  the 


Evangelistic  Endeavor. 


339 


steamer  Endeavour  built  by  the  Baptist  Christian  Endeavor- 
^„  ers  of  England,  at  an  expense  of  $25,000,  for  use  by 

stTamer^^'''  ^^^  mission  on  the  Congo.     It  was  built  and  dedi- 
for  the         cated  at  Oxford.     It  is  a  large  stern-wheel  steamer 
''"^*'*  built    entirely    of    steel,    with    machinery    of    spe- 

cial design,  and  is  furnished  with  cabins  for  the  native  crew 


MoNASTiR,    Turkey, 
The    Home    of    Four    Christian    Endeavor    Societie:^ 


and  native  passengers,  while  the  top  cabins  are  for  the  officers 
and  white  passengers.  The  steamer's  flag,  the  gift  of  the 
Oxford  Endeavorers,  is  a  pennant  some  seven  feet  long  with 
"Endeavour"  in  large  white  letters  on  a  ground  of  indigo 
blue.  The  boat  was  taken  to  pieces,  and  conveyed  to  Matadi, 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Congo.  Thence  it  was  transported  a 
thousand  miles  up  the  river  by  the  railway  to  Stanley  Pool. 


340         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

There  it  was  put  together,  and  navigates  a  thousand  miles  of 
river  from  Stanley  Pool  to  Stanley  Falls. 

It  is  impossible  in  this  chapter  to  give  even  the  briefest 
survey  of  the  evangelistic  efforts  of  Endeavorers  at  home  and 
abroad.  The  writer  has  chosen  simply  a  few  samples  of  such 
efforts  from  a  multitude  that  might  be  recorded ;  but  enough 
has  been  written,  perhaps,  to  show  not  only  the  spirit  and  pur- 
pose of  the  Society,  but  its  possibilities  in  promoting  the  great 
object  of  the  church — the  bringing  of  the  world  to  Christ. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 
THE  SOCIETY  AS  A  DEMOCRACY. 

DESCRIBING  HOW  THE  DEMOCRATIC  BUSINESS  WAYS 
AND  MEETINGS  AND  CONVENTIONS  OF  THE  SOCIETY 
ARE  FOREVER  OPPOSED  TO  THE  SNOBBISHNESS  OF 
WEALTH  OR  EDUCATION  OR  CASTE  OF  ANY  KIND. 

"  Christian  Endeavor  does  not  ask  a  man  whether  he  lives 
in  Africa,  in  India,  China,  or  America.  It  does  not  ask  him 
u'hether  he  be  clothed  with  a  black  skin,  a  white,  a  tawny,  or 
a  red  one.  Christian  Endeavor  stands  first,  last,  and  always 
for  the  salvation  of  man."  Rev.  PFillis  R.  Hotchkiss, 

Africa. 

;NE  of  the  great  providential  purposes  of  the 
Christian  Endeavor  movement  as  shown  by  its 
history  is  to  promote  the  spirit  of  democracy 
among  its  members.  Far  more  important  is  this 
than  it  would  seem  at  first  blush.  If  there  is 
anything  grievous  to  Christ  and  foreign  to  the  true  idea  of 
His  church,  it  is  the  spirit  of  exclusive  caste  which  sets  one 
group  of  Christians  off  by  themselves,  while  their  poorer  or 
more  ignorant  fellow  Christians  must  take  the  lowest  seats  in 
the  synagogue,  or  perhaps  worship  in  some  entirely  separate 
sanctuary. 

This  hateful  spirit  of  caste  is  as  old  as  St.  James,  who 
inveighed  in  righteous  indignation  against  the  special  de- 
ference paid  to  the  man  with  the  gold  ring  and  goodly  ap- 
parel, and  against  those  who  say  to  the  wearer  of  the  gay 
clothing,  "Sit  thou  here  in  a  good  place,  and  say  to  the  poor, 
Stand  thou  there,  or  sit  here  under  my  footstool," 

341 


342  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Landso 

Protestantism  in  some  respects  is  peculiarly  liable  to  this 
curse.  In  the  Roman  Catholic  and  Greek  churches  the  rich 
and  the  poor  meet  together  in  one  great  sanctuary,  the  beggar 
kneels  side  by  side  with  the  millionaire,  and  rags  jostle  silks 
and  laces  in  the  same  crowded  aisle. 

In  Mohammedan  mosques  and  some  heathen  temples 
even  the  rich  and  the  poor  meet  together,  even  if  they  do  not 
realize  that  the  "Lord  is  the  maker  of  them  all." 

But  in  Protestant  lands  there  are  often  churches  for  the 
rich  and  churches  for  the  poor;  and,  when  the  two  classes  are 
brought  together  in  a  common  church-membership,  the 
chapel  on  the  dismal  back  street  is  sometimes  thought  good 
enough  for  the  working  classes. 

It  cannot  be  that  this  is  in  accordance  with  the  spirit 
of  Christ,  and  any  organization  that  directly  or  indirectly, 
unconsciously  or  of  set  purpose,  does  anything  to  bring  the 
different  members  of  Christ's  family  together  on  a  footing  of 
friendship  and  common  interest  is  worthy  of  consideration. 

From  the  beginning  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement 
has  found  itself  used  of  God,  without  any  special  purpose  or 
design  of  its  own,  as  a  uniter,  a  link  and  bond  of  fellowship 
between  people  who  might  otherwise  be  estranged. 

In  all  this  the  hand  of  God  is  seen  in  a  most 
EndeaATor  signal  way.  Starting  in  one  church,  with  one  lit- 
ulTiter  ^^^  company  of  young  people.  Christian  Endeavor 

has  united  the  hearts  of  millions  of  young  people 
in  tens  of  thousands  of  churches  in  a  hundred  denominations. 
Starting  in  an  obscure  corner  of  the  nation,  it  has  united  in 
fellowship  and  sympathy  young  people  in  sixty  nations  and 
great  colonies. 

But  it  has  had  a  no  less  important,  though  a  less  con- 
spicuous, task  to  perform,  in  bringing  together  the  young 
people  of  the  different  classes  of  society  and  of  different  social 
ranks. 


The  Society  as  a  Democracy, 


343 


Cl, 


fL, 


u 


c  c 


m 


CL, 


344         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

Alas!  it  has  not  thoroughly  accomplished  this  task. 
Much  remains  to  be  done,  and  always  will  remain  while  such 
distinctions  exist  in  the  Christian  church ;  but  the  trend  and 
tendency  of  the  Society  is  all  in  the  direction  of  democracy 
and  the  heartiest  good  fellowship. 

An  eminent  worker*  in  the  ranks  of  American  Christian 
Endeavorers  has  made  the  important  point  that  it  is  even 
more  necessary  to  teach  Christian  people  to  work  ivith  one 
another  than  for  one  another.  It  is  a  comparatively  easy 
thing  to  go  "slumming,"  at  least  until  the  novelty  wears  ofif. 
There  is  a  pleasing  excitement  about  it,  and  a  smug  sense  of 
satisfaction  which  envelops  the  "slummer"  in  an  atmosphere 
of  self-congratulation.  But  it  is  a  far  dififefent  and  a  far 
more  Christlike  thing  actually  to  work  with  those  of  a  lower 
station  in  life;  not  making  them  feel  that  they  are  being  pat- 
ronized or  taught,  or  that  an  example  is  being  set  for  their 
behavior,  but  that,  as  Christian  brother  with  Christian 
brother,  or  as  sister  v/ith  sister,  work  is  being  done  together 
for  the  one  Father  in  heaven,  and  under  the  eyes  of  the  com- 
mon elder  brother.  It  is  just  this  kind  of  co-operation  and 
common  service  that  is  promoted  by  every  department  of  the 
Christian  Endeavor  Society. 

In  the  meetings  all  come  together.  The  testimony  and 
participation  of  one  are  required  as  much  as  those  of  another. 
The  Scripture  passage,  or  the  prayer,  or  the  testimony  of  the 
poorest  and  youngest  is  as  acceptable  as  that  of  the  richest  and 
oldest. 

On  the  committees,  too,  since  all  in  a  well-regulated  society 
must  be  placed  on  some  committee,  young  people  of  different 
social  grades  and  from  homes  of  different  degrees  of  culture 
must  necessarily  work  together.  Ability  is  very  likely  to 
come  to  the  front,  and  ability  often  wears  a  threadbare  coat, 
and  has  few  early  advantages. 

*  Treasurer  William  Shaw. 


The  Society  as  a  Democracy.  345 

The  business  of  the  society,  too,  is  conducted 

Democratic     ,  j  i  ■> 

Business  in  a  democratic  way,  the  members  choosing  their 
^^^'  own  officers,  making  their  own  appropriations,  and 

largely  directing  their  own  affairs,  subject,  of  course,  only  to 
the  veto  power  of  church  and  pastor.  Thus  not  only  do  they 
learn  invaluable  lessons  of  self-reliance  in  the  conduct  of  af- 
fairs; but  the  spirit  of  democracy  is  inculcated,  the  spirit  of 
the  New  England  town-meeting,  on  which  the  liberties  of 
America  rest.  The  same  spirit,  it  may  be  remarked,  actuates 
a  constitutional  monarchy  as  well  as  a  republic  where  the 
people  manage  their  own  local  concerns. 

Many  and  beautiful  are  the  illustrations  of  the  way  in 
which  this  spirit  of  Christlike  democracy  has  been  exhibited 
in  the  society.  One  of  the  wealthiest  and  most  famous  young 
women  in  America,  it  is  said,  is  accustomed  to  attend  the 
Christian  Endeavor  meetings  in  the  little  church  near  her 
country  home,  and  take  her  simple  part  with  the  neighbors' 
boys  and  girls  and  the  young  men  and  women  of  the  village, 
striving  as  simply  and  unostentatiously  as  any  of  them  to  do 
what  Christ  would  have  her  do. 

In  a  New  England  town  a  young  lady  whose  wealth  is 
counted  by  millions  is  always  found  at  the  Christian  Endeavor 
prayer-meeting.  She  is  put  upon  the  committees  as  regu- 
larly as  any  of  the  members.  Her  committee  often  meets  in 
her  elegant  home;  but  she  never  attempts  to  dominate  the 
others  or  to  have  her  own  way,  but  simply  works  with  them 
as  one  of  the  obscurest  members  would  do,  and  takes  her 
share  of  the  burdens  and  responsibilities  as  well  as  the  honors 
of  office.  This,  after  all,  is  what  counts  in  a  free  country. 
The  factory  hand,  the  shop-girl,  the  clerk,  the  farm-hand,  do 
not  care  to  be  patronized.  They  would  naturally  and  rightly 
resent  it,  but  they  do  want  companionship,  sympathy,  the  help 
of  a  friendly  heart,  and  to  have  the  privilege  of  giving  as  well 
as  receiving  help. 


346         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands, 

There  is  also  a  snobbish  aristocracy  of  education,  which 
one  often  sees,  which  is  just  as  ofifensive  and  more  indefensible 
than  the  snobbishness  of  wealth,  for  the  educated  man  ought 
to  know  better. 

How  often  we  see  the  college  man  draw  away 
Snobbish=  from  his  less  educated  mates,  and  leave  the  work 
Edu^ca/ion  °^  ^^^  church,  in  which  he  might  be  doubly  effi- 
cient, altogether  to  those  who  have  had  no  such 
advantages  as  he!  Many  pastors  have  complained  bitterly 
of  the  influence  of  modern  college  life  upon  their  young 
men  and  women,  saying  that  they  are  of  no  further  use  in  the 
church  after  they  have  once  gone  away  to  college.  This  is  of 
course  an  exaggeration,  for  many  are  not  thus  afifected;  but 
there  is  altogether  too  much  truth  in  it,  and  the  root  of  the 
evil  is  simply  the  loss  of  the  Christlike  spirit  of  democracy. 
The  greater  the  opportunities  and  privileges,  the  greater  the 
responsibilities  for  service.  The  man  who  hides  away  ten 
talents  in  a  napkin  will  be  condemned  more  severely  than  the 
one  who  hides  but  one. 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  men  of  real  edu- 
cation have  failed  to  work  heartily  and  harmoniously  with  the 
young  people  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  societies.  A  multi- 
tude of  leaders,  both  in  local  unions  and  in  local  societies  all 
over  America,  are  college-bred  men  and  women  who  find 
inspiration  in  the  simple  testimonies  of  their  younger  broth- 
ers and  sisters,  in  the  songs  and  prayers  of  the  weekly  meet- 
ings, and  find  in  the  work  of  the  committees  a  real  help  to 
their  own  spiritual  life  and  a  splendid  opportunity  for  service. 

That  the  testimony  and  expressions  of  religious  life  given 
by  these  young  Christians,  though  often  crude,  are  uninterest- 
ing and  unprofitable  is  denied  by  every  one  who  enters  into 
their  life  sympathetically.  The  writer  has  seen  the  most  emi- 
nent doctors  of  divinity  in  the  country,  and  the  most 
distinguished  pulpit  orators,  listen  with  tears  of  joy  to  the  tes- 


The  Society  as  a  Democracy. 


347 


timonies  of  the  young  Christians  in  a  convention  consecration- 
meeting;  and,  as  he  has  knelt  at  the- same  seat  with  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  of  our  college  presidents,  he  has  felt  the 
settee  throb  with  the  scarcely  controlled  emotion  of  his  com- 
panion, who  was  following  the  prayers  of  some  of  his  youngest 
and  least  educated  fellow  Endeavorers  as  they  prayed  for 
God's  blessing  and  the  outpouring  of  His  Spirit. 


JBk.   m. 

■—  ■       -^     *■  *"°#  •  i- 

V'-Sr-^i  f  ^  ■  .,  ■ ,'  -' :  -  •  :■  • ..  •♦'4i  A  j.>i  -^  i.i'^f  o 

t:^^'     '      ^^y  1«;   rvf  f'     v-  ^^M.%,^*     4^ 

English,  Irish,  and  Scotch   Christian  Endeavor  Convention   Picnic   at  Loch   Fyne, 

Scotland. 

y 

The  conventions,  as  is  natural,  have  this  to  their  credit, 
that  they  bring  together  the  young  people  in  the  most  friendly 
and  familiar  Christian  intercourse.  One  can  hardly  take  a 
week's  journey  with  another  on  train  or  steamer  without  be- 
coming interested  in  him,  and  looking  at  matters  somewhat 
from  his  point  of  view.  One  cannot  sit  side  by  side  with  his 
fellows  In  a  great  congregation,  having  his  soul  uplifted  with 
the  same  emotions,  his  heart  going  out  in  the  same  prayers, 
and  his  voice  joining  in  the  same  hymns  of  praise,  without 


348  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

coming  to  feel  a  genuine  sympathy  and  fellowship  with  him. 

In   the   British   conventions   the   delegates   are 

Democratic    gf^^^^  houscd  in  improvised  hostels,  established  in 

Hostels  ^  ' 

at  schoolrooms    or    vestries    of    churches,    and    these 

Convention,  ,  __. 

are  magnificent  promoters  of  democracy.  When 
twenty  cots  are  set  up  side  by  side  in  one  room;  when  at 
the  common  table  in  picnic  style  the  delegates  eat  to- 
gether day  after  day;  when  they  have  their  morning  and 
evening  devotions  together,  and  come  and  go  to  the  meet- 
ings side  by  side;  the  spirit  of  caste,  if  it  existed  before,  is 
likely  to  get  its  death-blow. 

The  excursions  and  picnics  and  swimming-matches  and 
out-of-door  games,  which  often  form  recreational  features  of 
the  convention,  bring  together  young  people,  not  only  from 
different  sections  and  different  denominations,  but  from  all 
walks  of  life  as  well,  thus  unconsciously  fulfilling  one  of  the 
chief  functions  of  Christian  Endeavor. 

In  the  local  society  the  social  gathering  is  the 

Democratic  ^  r  uu*   1  j 

Social  great  enemy  of  snobbishness  and  conscious  superi- 

Gatherings.  Qj-^ty.  The  plans  for  Christian  Endeavor  sociables 
are  almost  innumerable,  and  three  very  considerable  volumes 
of  about  150  pages  each  have  been  published  by  the  United 
Society  in  America,  giving  a  great  variety  of  social  gather- 
ings, each  one  of  which,  if  entered  into  heartily,  would  sound 
I  the  knell  of  stifif  formality  and  exclusiveness.  It  is  manifestly 
impossible  in  such  a  volume  as  this  to  tell  in  detail  of  these 
social  gatherings,  or  to  outline  their  bright  plans;  but  as  a 
mere  example  of  what  may  be  done  it  is  worth  while  to  record 
a  very  few  samples  of  "socials"  from  among  the  thousand 
which  have  been  successfully  used  in  Christian  Endeavor  so- 
cieties, and  which  have  helped  to  bring  the  young  people 
nearer  to  each  other. 

"A  post-office  social,  in  which  each  writes  a  serious  or 
humorous  letter  to  some  other  member  of  the  society,  signing 
his  name. 


The  Society  as  a  Democracy. 


349 


"A  botanical  social,  with  contests  in  the  identification  of 
common  plants,  and  with  a  microscope  exhibition  and  talk. 

"A  great  phonograph  social,  with  an  explanation  of  the 
machine,  and  with  illustrations  from  previously  prepared  rec- 
ords and  from  impromptus. 

"A  hodge-podge  social,  in  which  each  member  is  called 
upon  by  lot  to  lead  in  one  game  of  his  own  choice. 

"A  spelling-school,  the  words  to  be  spelled  backwards. 

"A  puzzle  evening,  puzzles  being  placed  on  small  tables 
and  groups  of  the  Endeavorers  being  sent  from  table  to  table 
at  the  tap  of  a  bell. 


A  Bit  of  the  Last  Welsh  Christian  Endeavor  Convention. 

"A  recent-events  evening,  with  bright  accounts  of  the 
leading  features  of  recent  history." 

One  of  the  earliest  charges  against  the  Society  was  that 
it  brought  the  sexes  together  too  frequently  in  social  life,  and 
a  standing  joke  which  deserved  long  ago  to  be  buried  under 
the  spreading  chestnut-tree  was  that  C.  E.  stood  for  "Courting 
Endeavor,"  not  for  Christian  Endeavor.     But,  as  many  or- 


350  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

ganizations  have  turned  their  reproaches  and  their  gibes  into 
badges  of  honor  and  distinction,  so  this  free  social 

Free  °  ' 

Intercourse  intercourse  between  the  young  men  and  women  has 
the^  come   to   be   one   of   the    glories   of   the    Christian 

Sexes.  Endeavor  movement.     It  has   been   seen   to   make 

for  purity  and  modesty,  as  well  as  for  unconstrained  geni- 
ality, and  has  resulted  in  many  happy  companionships,  and 
finally  in  many  delightful  homes,  so  that  along  all  the  differ- 
ent avenues  of  social  life  the  Society  has  aimed  to  promote 
naturalness,  sanity,  freedom  from  oppressive  conventionality, 
and  the  genuine  Christlike  spirit.  This  whole  matter  of 
social  democracy  among  young  Christians  has  been  so  well 
put  by  another*  that  I  cannot  do  better  than  to  end  this  chap- 
ter with  his  words. 

"What  is  it  to  be  social?  It  is  to  appreciate  the  mean- 
ing of  life.  It  is  to  realize  that  we  are  set  here  in  this  world, 
not  for  houses,  lands,  gold,  silks,  praise,  authority,  fame,  but 
for  character.  It  is  to  put  first  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  His 
righteousness. 

"Gold  separates  men.  They  sneak  ofif,  each  to  his  own 
gulch,  jealous  lest  some  one  else  should  pre-empt  a  valuable 
claim  before  he  does.  Ambition  separates  men.  My  brother 
and  I  cannot  both  hold  the  office  at  the  same  time,  and  there- 
fore— well,  'Heaven  helps  him  that  helps  himself.'  (Some 
think  that  is  in  the  Bible.)  Spite  of  trusts  and  combines,  of 
clubs  and  cliques,  the  god  of  this  world  is  a  god  of  division,  of 
isolation,  and  it  is  only  as  men  get  into  their  souls  the  love  of 
God  and  the  thought  of  His  eternity  and  theirs  that  perma- 
nently and  truly  they  draw  nigh  to  one  another. 

"The  spirit  of  snobbishness  will  kill  the  socials  of  any 
society.  Christ  would  not  be  admitted  to-day  into  certain  cir- 
cles of  so-called  Christians,  if  He  came  in  the  working  clothes 
of  a  carpenter.  Good  socials  must  be  democratic,  and  the 
washerwoman's  daughter  and  ashman's  son  must  be  made  to 
feel  as  much  at  home  as  the  daughter  of  Senator  Biggun  or  the 

*  Amos  R.  Wells,  in  "  Social  to  Save." 


The  Society  as  a  Democracy.  351 

son  of  General  Moneybags.  Egotism,  the  feeling  that  you 
are  better  than  other  people,  either  on  account  of  a  better-filled 
purse,  or  because  of  a  better-filled  head,  or  because  of  some 
other  gift  of  fortune  or  industry,  will  destroy  any  social.  Put 
in  place  of  this  contemptible  spirit  the  humble  acknowledg- 
ment of  sinfulness  and  unworthiness,  and  the  glad  perception 
that  all  for  whom  Christ  died  are  brothers  and  sisters  in  Him, 
and  you  will  have,  you  cannot  help  having,  successful  socials. 
I  do  not  much  care  what  games  you  play,  or  whether  you  play 
at  all,  what  refreshments  you  serve,  or  whether  you  let  the 
overburdened  stomach  alone  and  serve  none  at  all,  sociability 
does  not  consist  in  forms  and  trappings,  but  in  the  spirit.  For- 
get yourselves,  remember  Christ,  seek  to  win  friends  for  Him, 
that  is  my  recipe  for  a  good  social.  Forget  yourselves,  re- 
member Christ,  seek  to  win  friends  for  Him." 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

THE  NEW  AND  THE  OLD   IN   CHRISTIAN   EN- 
DEAVOR. 

HOW  THE  CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR  MOVEMENT  HAS  PUT 
A  NEW  MEANING  INTO  SOME  OLD  WORDS  AND  A  NEW 
EMPHASIS  UPON  OTHERS;  AND  HOW  IT  HAS  EMBODIED 
THE  IDEAS  OF  DEVOTION,  PROPORTIONATE  AND  SYS- 
TEMATIC GIVING,  AND  CIVIC  RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

"  Christian  Endeavor  is  planting  a  new  phrase  in  the  lan- 
guages of  the  world.  At  our  second  All-India  Christian  En- 
deavor Convention  at  Allahabad  it  was  unanimously  and 
enthusiastically  adopted  that  'Christian  Endeavor'  be  accepted 
as  the  one  name,  untranslated,  in  every  language  and  dialect 
in  all  India,  Burma,  and  Ceylon.  Thus  the  words  that  mean 
so  much  to  us  in  our  tongue  at  home  are  now  in  many  tongues." 

Rev.  G.  L.  Wharton,  India. 

"  It  seems  to  me  that  in  the  very  inception  of  this  movement 
the  thought  that  inspired  it,  the  thought  that  gave  it  name,  was 
happy  and  blest.  I  know  of  no  two  words  in  the  English 
language  that  are  more  freighted  with  deep  significance.  I 
know  of  no  title  that  you  could  have  chosen  that  would  be 
more  heavily  weighted  with  blessing  and  divine  inspiration 
than  these  two  words." 

Governor  Roger  Wolcott,  of  Massachusetts. 

HE  new  and  the  old  in  Christian  Endeavor  are  in- 
extricably intertwined.  In  one  sense  it  is  all 
new,  in  another  sense  it  contains  nothing  new. 
It  has  brought  new  names  into  the  dictionary, 
but  these  names  are  often  the  signs  of  old  ideas. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  has  taken  words  as  old  as  the  English 
language  and  put  a  new  meaning  into  them,  or  at  least  a  new 

352 


The  New  and  the  Old.  353 

emphasis,   and  has   given  them  such  currency  as  they  have 
never  had  before. 

One  of  these  words  is  found  in  the  very  name  of  the  So- 
ciety and  its  members,  "Endeavor,"  "Endeavorer."  The 
"Standard  Dictionary,"  after  describing  the  Society,  defines 
"Endeavorer"  as  "one  who  endeavors,  or  strives  to  do  some- 
thing; specifically,  a  member  of  the  Young  People's  Society 
of  Christian  Endeavor."  This  word,  it  is  not  too  much  to 
say,  is  used  fifty  times  to-day  where  it  was  used  once  a  quar- 
ter of  a  century  ago.  It  is  often  capitalized  to-day,  whereas 
then  it  was  written  with  a  small  initial;  and  this  increased 
emphasis  upon  the  word  indicates  the  increased  emphasis 
which  the  Society  has  put  upon  the  thing  for  which  the  word 
stands. 

The  writer  has  frequently  been  asked  how  the  Society 
came  to  be  called  by  this  name,  where  the  original  sugges- 
tion came  from;  and  he  has  to  confess  that  he  does  not  know. 
He  has  learned  of  late  years  that  there  was  once  a  church  in 
Brooklyn,  started,  if  I  mistake  not,  by  the  Rev.  Edward  Eg- 
gleston,  called  the  "Church  of  Christian  Endeavor."  I  have 
since  learned,  too,  that  there  was  a  society  among  the  deaf 
mutes  of  an  institution  in  Lawrence  thirty  years  ago,  called 
"The  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor."  It  may  have  been  that 
this  name,  either  from  the  church  or  from  the  deaf-mute 
asylum,  was  seen  by  the  author,  and  filtered  into  his  mind 
without  his  knowing  it;  and,  when  the  time  came  for  naming 
the  new  society,  some  subconscious  act  may  have  recalled  the 
name  he  had  heard  before.  It  would  be  interesting  if  it 
could  be  proved  that  a  society  in  a  deaf-mute  asylum  sug- 
gested the  name  to  the  movement  whose  members  take  audi- 
ble part  in  every  meeting. 
hackneyed  Howcvcr  this  may  be,  the  name  has  doubtless 

had  not  a  little  to  do  with  the  success  of  the  So- 
ciety.    It  was  unhackneyed,   and  suggested   fresh,  vigorous, 

23 


354         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

strenuous  life,  the  very  life  that  is  suited  to  young  Chris- 
tians. It  has  been  found  a  difficult  name,  to  be  sure,  to 
translate  into  other  tongues;  but,  though  several  unsuccess- 
ful attempts  have  often  been  made  on  the  introduction  of 
the  Society  into  a  foreign  country  to  translate  the  name,  the 
members  have  after  a  time  settled  down  on  a  nomenclature 
satisfactory  to  all. 

The  greatest  difficulties  of  translation  have  naturally 
occurred  in  Oriental  languages,  especially  the  Chinese, 
where,  as  is  often  recalled,  the  original  name  of  the  society 
as  given  in  the  Fukien  province,  the  first  district  in  China  to 
accept  Christian  Endeavor,  was  "The  Drum-Around-and- 
Rouse-Up  Society,"  by  no  means  an  inappropriate,  though  a 
cumbrous,  name.  In  the  Cantonese  dialect  it  was  called  by 
the  circumlocution,  the  ''Urge-on-in-the-Service-of-Salva- 
tion's-Lord  Society." 

Since  the  English  word  "endeavor"  comes  from  the  two 
French  words  en  devoir,  it  would  seem  to  be  easy  to  put  it 
back  again  into  French;  but  this  has  not  proved  to  be  the  case, 
and  the  somewhat  less  meaningful  phrase,  "Society  of  Chris- 
tian Activity,"  has  been  adopted  in  French-speaking  lands. 

There  are  other  phrases  and  words  which  the  Christian 
Endeavor  societies  have  so  thoroughly  adopted  as  their  own 
that  they  almost  seem  to  have  originated  them.  They  have 
certainly  originated  the  combinations  in  which  they  are  used 
to-day.  For  instance,  "lookout  committee"  finds  a  place  in 
the  "Standard  Dictionary,"  and  is  defined  as  "a  committee  in 
the  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor,  whose  duties  are  to  bring 
in  new  members,  to  introduce  them  to  the  work,  etc."  So 
with  various  other  committees,  "social  committee,"  "prayer- 
meeting  committee,"  "calling  committee,"  "missionary  com- 
mittee," "sunshine  committee,"  these  are  all  old  words,  but  in 
their  combination  and  accepted  use  to-day  have  been  given  an 
entirely  new  and  a  very  definite  meaning. 


The  New  and  the  Old.  355 

The  word  "interdenominational"  was  heard  but  seldom, 
lnter=  ^^  ever,  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago.     We  used  the 

denom=  words  "denominational"  and  "undenominational" 
frequently  enough  ;  but  interdenominationalism  had 
scarcely  been  born,  and  there  was  little  need  to  name  it. 
Now  "interdenominational"  is  as  common  and  well  under- 
stood as  "undenominational,"  and  stands  for  as  definite  and 
important  a  feature  of  religious  life.  n 

The  words  "consecration"  and  "consecration-meeting," 
too,  have  had  a  volume  of  new  meaning  put  into  them  by  the 
Christian  Endeavor  movement.  "Consecration"  stands  not 
for  some  mystical  emotion,  and  not  only  for  the  renunciation 
of  self  and  the  making  sacred  of  one's  time  and  money  and 
ability  to  God,  though  of  course  the  word  must  always  con-' 
tain  this,  but  it  stands  also  for  the  outspoken  devotion  of  the 
young  person  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  at  the  monthly  meet- 
ing; it  stands  for  a  renewal  of  the  vows  made  by  every  En- 
deavorer  when  he  joins  the  society,  and  a  renewal  of  the  ex- 
pression of  his  allegiance  to  his  God. 

There  are  other  phrases  that  have  come  in  the  wake  of 
Christian  Endeavor,  which  are  no  less  telling  and  self-descrip- 
tive. What,  for  instance,  could  so  well  describe  Christian 
Endeavor  work  among  the  sailors  as  "Floating  societies"? 
What  two  words  could  tell  more  of  a  society  among  the  sol- 
diers than  "Barrack  society"? 

This  is  an  appropriate  place,  also,  to  speak  of  the  sub- 
sidiary organizations  which  have  clustered  around  the  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  movement.  Some  one  has  happily  compared 
them  to  the  beautiful  chapels  that  surround  a  great  cathedral. 
They  add  to  its  value,  its  utility,  and  its  beauty 
iary  without  detracting  from  the  main  edifice.     Some 

tions"'^^^  worshippers  find  help  and  comfort  in  one  chapel, 
and  some  in  another;  and,  while  none  are  com- 
pelled to  kneel  in  any  one  of  them,  they  are  often  filled  with 


356  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

devotees,  who  are  also  the  worshippers  in  the  main  cathedral 
itself. 

Oftentimes  have  I  been  through  the  great  cathedrals  of 
Europe,  and  have  thought  at  first  that  they  were  quite  empty 
and  destitute  of  worshippers,  but  in  some  side  aisle,  or  behind 
the  altar,  I  have  come  across  a  company  of  devout  Christians, 
who  have  found  in  the  altar  or  the  saint  to  whom  the  chapel 
was  dedicated  something  that  especially  fitted  their  religious 
needs.  That  which  we  sturdy  children  of  the  Reformation 
may  regard  as  born  of  superstitious  ignorance  finds  a  counter- 
part which  no  Protestant  can  object  to,  in  the  dififerent  activi- 
ties which  earnest  Christians  find  for  themselves,  according  to 
their  age,  their  abilities  and  circumstances. 

Around  the  Christian  Endeavor  cathedral  have  grouped 
themselves  the  Quiet  Hour  chapel,  the  Tenth  Legion  chapel, 
the  Macedonian  Phalanx  chapel,  the  Home  Circle,  and  the 
Rural  Christian  Endeavor  chapels.  Though  learned  pro- 
fessors may  ascribe  these  to  "the  oath  craze,"  those  who  care- 
fully study  the  history  of  the  Society,  and  practically  enter 
into  its  life,  find  them  as  inevitable  and  necessary  as  the  So- 
ciety itself.  If  they  are  not  needed  and  do  not  fill  a  need 
of  human  nature,  they  will  soon  fall  into  disuse,  and  they  will 
be  used  more  or  less  according  to  their  real  value  in  meeting 
the  needs  of  the  times. 

Among  these  auxiliaries  of  the  Christian  En- 

The  ^ 

Quiet  deavor  movement  none  have  met  a  felt  need  of 

the  time  perhaps  so  much  as  "the  Quiet  Hour." 
Something  like  ten  years  ago  it  was  forced  upon  the  atten- 
tion of  the  writer,  especially  as  he  studied  the  great  conven- 
tions, that  there  was  an  element  lacking  which  might  be 
supplied.  The  Christian  Endeavorers  were  full  of  vivacity, 
activity,  and  genuine  devotion.  Their  meetings  did  not  lack 
enthusiasm,  and  their  consecration-meetings  were  full  of  so- 
lemnity and  genuine  spiritual  power;  but  it  seemed  to  him  that 


The  New  and  the  Old.  357 

too  little  time  was  given  to  reflection,  meditation,  and  com- 
munion with  God.  In  order  to  support  the  vast  amount  of 
doings  there  must  be  more  and  more  being  behind  it.  Ac- 
tivities must  spring  from  heart  devotion,  and,  to  cultivate 
this,  time  must  be  rigorously  set  apart.  The  larger  the  activ- 
ities, the  greater  the  need  for  these  periods  of  devotion. 

The  Keswick  movement  and  other  such  efiforts  for  the 
deepening  of  the  spiritual  life  have  conclusively  shown  how, 
when  well  guarded  and  not  allowed  to  run  into  fanaticism, 
the  most  useful  philanthropies  and  the  largest  activities  flow 
from  the  deepest  spiritual  springs.  So  it  was  proposed  that 
those  who  wished  should  band  themselves  together  in  a  purely 
voluntary  organization  called  "the  Comrades  of  the  Quiet 
Hour."  The  name  was  chosen  rather  than  the  similar  name 
of  "The  Morning  Watch"  in  order  to  give  the  utmost  freedom 
as  to  the  time  which  should  be  devoted  to  meditation  and 
personal  communion  with  God,  though  the  morning  hour  was 
strongly  recommended. 

Those  who  became  "comrades"  agreed  to  spend  fif- 
teen minutes  a  day  not  merely  in  Bible-reading  and  pe- 
tition, but  in  genuine  personal  communion  with  the  Un- 
seen. As  soon  as  proposed,  the  idea  attracted  the  attention 
of  a  great  multitude  of  young  people,  and  testimonies 
began  to  pour  in  from  all  directions,  of  the  exceeding  value 
of  a  "Quiet  Hour"  in  personal  experience.  Lives  were 
brightened.  Christian  hope  revived,  assurance  of  salvation 
made  doubly  sure,  because  the  Comrades  had  learned  the  se- 
cret of  personal  communion  by  actually  practising  it.  Quiet 
Hour  literature  began  to  abound;  "Quiet  Hours"  led  by  some 
of  the  most  eminent  Christians*  in  the  land  began  to  be 
held  in  connection  with  the  conventions  both  State  and  na- 
tional.    Now  more  than  40,000  have  been  definitely  enrolled 

*  Dr.  Floyd  W.  Tomkins,  President  H.  C.  King,  the  Rev.  J.  Wilbur  Chapman, 
D.D.,  Mr.  William  R.  Moody  and  many  others. 


358  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

as  "Comrades"  in  different  lands,  and  probably  many  times 
that  number  have  been  affected  and  influenced  by  the  thought, 
and  have  learned  the  secret  of  meditation,  which  is  no  longer 
"a  lost  art"  among  a  multitude  of  Christian  youth. 

Another  instance  in  w^hich  an  old  name  has 

The  r-  I     1         •  1  •  •       r  1     •         1 

Tenth  been  filled  with  a  new  meanmg  is  found  in  the 

egion.  "Tenth  Legion."  The  name  of  Caesar's  picked 
troops,  upon  which  he  could  always  rely,  was  given  origi- 
nally by  the  New  York  City  Union  to  a  tithe-givers'  league, 
which  was  at  first  but  local  in  its  work  and  application.  But 
what  was  good  for  New  York  was  good  for  the  rest  of  the 
Union;  and  the  suggestion,  originally  made  by  Mr.  W.  L. 
Amerman  in  the  year  1897,  ^^^  adopted  by  the  American 
United  Society,  which  at  once  commenced  to  promote  the 
"Tenth  Legion"  on  a  larger  scale.  Many  thousands  have  en- 
rolled themselves  under  this  banner,  or,  to  refer  to  a  former 
figure,  have  found  help  and  comfort  in  this  chapel  of  the 
Christian  Endeavor  cathedral,  and  multitudes  of  young  peo- 
ple, when  "the  Tenth  Legion"  is  now  spoken  of,  think  not 
of  Caesar's  blood-stained  troops,  but  of  Christ's  army  of  young 
people  who  have  resolved  to  devote  one-tenth  of  their  income, 
be  it  large  or  small,  to  the  cause  which  fights  against  the  hosts 
of  sin  throughout  the  world. 

"The  Macedonian  Phalanx"  may  seem  to  some  a  fanci- 
ful name,  but  it  stands  for  an  attempt  to  meet  a  real  need  in 
a  natural  way;  and,  when  one  thinks  of  it,  no  name  could  be 
more  appropriate  than  the  "Macedonian  Phalanx,"  proposed 
first  by  Professor  Amos  R.  Wells,  to  designate  this 
Ma*cedo=  effort  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society  to  answer 
Phrianx.  ^^^  ^^^  ^^y^  which  is  Still  repeated  after  1900  years, 
"Come  over  into  Macedonia  and  help  us!"  It  was 
felt,  and  most  naturally,  that  many  young  people  would  be 
far  more  interested  in  giving  their  money  for  the  support  of 
a  definite  missionary,  native  preacher,  teacher,  Bible  woman. 


The  New  and  the  Old.  359 

or  other  Christian  worker,  or  a  student  preparing  for  Chris- 
tian work,  or  for  some  definite  and  distinct  part  of  mission 
work,  as  a  hospital,  free  hospital  bed,  mission-boat-building, 
church-planting,  Sunday-school,  and  the  like,  than  to  put 
their  money  into  some  great  treasury  that  swallowed  up  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  other  dollars  without  telling  them  just 
what  their  money  was  used  for.  So  any  individual  or  society 
that  gives  at  least  twenty  dollars  a  year  for  mission  work, 
through  its  own  denomination,  and  desires  to  have  it  devoted 
to  some  special  purpose  of  this  sort,  can  belong  to  the  Mace- 
donian Phalanx. 

Many,  to  be  sure,  who  really  belong  to  "the  Macedonian 
Phalanx"  have  not  thought  it  necessary  to  enroll  their  names; 
but  it  has  given  a  great  stimulus  to  the  idea  of  personal,  defi- 
nite missionary  work, — the  idea  of  working  twenty-four  hours 
a  day  for  the  Master,  twelve  hours  in  one's  own  home  land 
while  about  one's  every-day  occupations,  and  twelve  hours 
through  the  substitute  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  globe.  This 
idea  is  adopted  by  many  missionary  societies  in  the  so-called 
"Forward  Movements"  of  the  day,  and  has  proved  a  great 
blessing,  not  only  to  the  mission  cause,  but  to  the  givers  at 
home,  in  linking  them  definitely  with  the  work  and  workers 
^  who  otherwise  might  seem  so  hazy  and  far  away. 

Civic  The  "Civic  Club"  is   an  organization  which 

will  be  described  more  at  length  in  the  chapter  on 
Good  Citizenship  Endeavors,  but  is  another  of  the  adjuncts 
of  the  Society,  which  might  well  be  made  of  larger  use  than 
it  ever  has  been. 

The  "Home  Circle"  is  an  effort  proposed  by  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  Society  at  the  convention  in  Nashville  in 
the  interests  of  home  religion  and  family  worship.  As  has 
been  said, 

"There  are  tens  of  thousands  of  families  now,  where  one 
or  both  of  the  heads  of  the  household  are  or  have  been  active 


360  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

members  of  the  Society.  If  Christian  Endeavor  means  any- 
thing to  them,  it  means  that  they  will  carry  their  religion  into 
their  new-made  homes.  It  is  as  natural  that  Christian  En- 
deavor should  stand  for  Christian  family  life  as  for  Christian 
citizenship  or  Christian  missions.  And  so  the  members  of  the 
Home  Circle  say  to  each  other  and  their  Master,  'Trusting 
in  the  Lord  Jesu?  Christ  for  strength,  we  will  endeavor  to 
maintain  family  worship  in  our  home,  and  will  strive  to  make 
it,  through  kindness,  courtesy,  and  mutual  helpfulness,  a 
household  of  God.'  " 

An  effort  somewhat  allied  to  this  is  one  pro- 

Rural 

Family  posed   by   Secretary   Clements   of   the    New  York 

Union  to  bring  the  benefit  of  Christian  Endeavor 
to  isolated  country  homes,  whose  members  on  account  of  dis- 
tance from  church,  or  because  of  the  impassable  roads  of  win- 
ter, could  not  get  to  the  meetings.  It  is  called  "Rural  Family 
Endeavor,"  and  makes  it  possible  for  a  single  family  to  form 
a  little  Christian  Endeavor  society  of  its  own,  auxiliary  to 
the  larger  society  in  the  church  which  the  members  attend. 
It  also  makes  it  possible  for  groups  of  neighbors,  living  far 
from  the  church,  to  meet  together  in  a  simple  Christian  En- 
deavor service,  and  thus  bring  the  means  of  grace  to  their 
very  doors.  This  department  of  Christian  Endeavor  will 
doubtless  meet  the  need  of  many  scattered  communities,  and 
we  already  hear  of  eighteen  rural  family  Endeavor  societies 
started  in  the  republic  of  Brazil. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  the  value  of  these  co-operat- 
ing organizations  is  not  to  be  measured,  by  any  means,  by  the 
numbers  enrolled  in  them,  though  in  the  case  of  many  these 
are  very  large.  But  one  of  their  chief  values  is  that  they  give 
an  opportunity  of  projecting  an  idea;  they  materialize  and 
embody,  so  to  speak,  a  thought  that  would  otherwise  be  evan- 
escent. They  give  something  to  talk  about,  something  tangi- 
ble to  describe;  they  clothe  in  flesh  and  blood  a  spirit  which 


The  New  and  the  Old.  361 

needs  a  ^'local  habitation  and  a  name."  They  do  far  more 
good  than  statistics  can  tell,  or  than  the  members  enrolled 
would  signify,  even  though  they  are  numbered  by  tens  of 
thousands. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR  IN  THE  AMERICAS. 

THE  STORY  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR  SOCIETY 
FROM  ALASKA  IN  THE  NORTH  TO  TIERRA  DEL  FUEGO 
IN  THE  SOUTH,  AND  THE  CAUSES  AND  ELEMENTS  OF 
ITS  GROWTH,  ARE  THE  BURDEN  OF  THIS  CHAPTER. 

"  The  work  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society  during  the 
quarter  of  a  century  of  its  existence  has  been  far-reaching  in 
its  effect  for  good.  To  make  better  citizens,  to  lift  up  the 
standard  of  American  manhood  and  womanhood,  is  to  do  the 
greatest  service  to  the  country." 

President   Theodore  Roosevelt. 

"  I  extend  the  most  cordial  greetings  to  the  members  of 
the  Young  People's  Societies  of  Christian  Endeavor.  They 
are  engaged  in  a  work  of  vast  importance  to  the  entire 
country ;  a  work  which  belongs  to  our  civilization ;  a  work 
which  makes  for  better  people,  better  homes,  and  a  better 
republic.  They  are  a  mighty  force  for  good,  and  are  worthy 
of  the  utmost  encouragement  and  support.  I  wish  them  the 
largest  success  in  their  beneficent  enterprise." 

Hon.   Charles  IV.  Fairbanks, 
Vice-President  of  the   United  States. 

O  condense  the  story  of  Christian  Endeavor  in  the 
three  Americas — North,  South,  and  Central — 
into  one  brief  chapter,  is  a  difficult  undertaking. 
Of  course  only  the  salient  features  of  this  history 
can  here  be  presented,  but  other  details  will  be 
found  in  other  chapters  of  the  story  of  the  development  of  the 
movement. 

The  beginnings  of  the  Society  in  America  need  not  be  de- 
tailed here  since  it  is  the  story,   already  rehearsed,  of  the 

362 


christian  Endeavor  in  the  Americas.        363 

beginning  of  Christian  Endeavor  throughout  the  world. 
Some  of  the  important  conventions  and  leading  events  in  the 
American  history  have  also  been  previously  described. 

Probably  nothing  has  done  more  to  spread  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  Society  and  its  principles  from  Maine  to  Oregon 
and  from  Manitoba  to  Texas  than  the  great  conventions, 
which  are  inseparably  connected  with  the  history  of  this  last 
twenty-five  years.  They  have  compelled  attention.  They 
have  often  silenced  adverse  arguments.  They  have  heart- 
ened friends.  They  have  aroused  inquiry  in  the  general  pub- 
lic, which  would  otherwise  have  stood  aloof,  knowing  little 
and  caring  less  for  the  Society.  "What  is  this  new  thing?" 
"What  is  Christian  Endeavor?  And  what  do  the  Endeavor- 
ers  seek  to  accomplish?" 

If  people  have  not  said  with  some  of  old,  "These  who 
have  turned  the  world  upside  down  are  come  hither  also," 
they  have  at  least  said,  "These  that  have  compelled  the  atten- 
tion of  press  and  pulpit  by  their  numbers  and  enthusiasm, 
who  have  been  the  subject  of  conversation  in  the  restaurant 
and  at  the  street  corner,  who  have  moved  the  city  government 
and  the  State  and  national  authorities  to  give  them  a  wel- 
come, have  come  hither  also;  and  what  does  it  all  mean?" 

The  Endeavorers  have  been  glad  to  answer: 

Conventions  .     .  ° 

in  "Christian    Endeavor    means    that    we    stand    for 

Christ  and  the  church.  It  means  that  we  desire  to 
do  whatever  He  would  like  to  have  us  do.  It  means  a  virile, 
hopeful,  heroic  type  of  Christianity,  and  this  is  what  has  at- 
tracted the  young  people  and  their  well-wishers  from  far  and 
near.  It  means  that  the  religion  of  Christ  is  not  dead  or 
dying.  It  means  that  the  old  gospel  has  within  it  vitality 
enough  to  take  on  new  forms,  when  changed  conditions  make 
'ancient  good  uncouth'." 

Two  or  three  of  these  earlier  meetings  have  already  been 
described.     The  conventions  in  Saratoga  in   1886  and  1887 


364  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

will  always  be  remembered  by  those  who  attended  them  as 
meetings  of  rare  spiritual  power.  The  type  was  then  so  new 
that  they  made  even  a  deeper  impression  upon  those  in  attend- 
ance than  much  larger  gatherings,  even  though  just  as  spir- 
itual, would  make  to-day. 

There  are  of  course  certain  advantages  in  meetings  that 
number  two  thousand,  which  cannot  be  altogether  shared  by 
those  that  number  from  twenty  to  forty  thousand.  The  per- 
sonal enjoyment  where  one  can  hear  every  word  and  catch 
every  expression  of  the  speaker's  face  is  greater,  perhaps, 
than  in  the  vast  building,  where  the  speaker  recedes  into  a 
dim  and  distant  perspective.  But  the  sense  of  the  triumphant 
power  of  Christianity,  of  the  mighty  army  of  young  Chris- 
tians, which  is  so  gracious  a  feature  of  the  modern  convention, 
is  wanting  in  the  small  gatherings;  and  in  these  days  there 
are  so  many  smaller  meetings  in  connection  with  the  great 
conventions  that  the  peculiar  value  of  the  smaller  gathering 
is  not  lost,  while  there  is  no  other  convocation  held  in  the 
course  of  the  year,  besides  the  young  people's  conventions, 
that  gives  the  triumphant  sense  of  the  mass  and  power  of  the 
hosts  of  God. 

"Saratoga,  '87,"  was  follov/ed  by  a  series  of  conventions 
— Chicago,  1888,  Philadelphia,  1889,  St.  Louis,  1890,  and 
Minneapolis,  1891 — each  one  marking  growth  in  numbers  and 
in  strength,  and  each  one  making  a  more  decided  impression 
than  the  last  upon  the  country,  and  bringing  greater  and 
greater  encouragement  to  those  who  were  interested  in  the 
Christian  Endeavor  army. 

Cities  began  to  vie  with  each  other  in  their  desire  for 
the  convention.  The  city  governments  and  boards  of  trade, 
mayors  and  governors  and  leading  merchants,  would  send 
strenuous  appeals  to  each  convention,  asking  that  the  next 
might  be  held  within  their  borders.  These  appeals  became 
decidedly  embarrassing  to  the  trustees  of  the  United  Society, 


christian  Endeavor  in  the  Americas.       365 

who  had  to  decide  between  the  rival  claims,  and  who  could 
often  feelingly  repeat  the  words  of  the  old  lines, 

"  How  happy  could  I  be  with  either, 
Were  t'other  dear  charmer  away!" 

The  convention  in  New  York  in  1892  was  not  only  a  rec- 
ord-breaker in  numbers,  but  it  was  the  first  to  impress  the 
country  with  the  extent  and  rapid  growth  of  Christian  En- 
deavor. It  has  already  been  alluded  to,  and  it  is  sufficient  to 
say  that  the  echoes  awakened  in  Madison  Square  Garden  in 
those  hot  July  days  have  not  yet  died  away.  They  were  heard 
around  the  world,  and  in  distant  parts  of  China  and  India 
the  writer  has  been  asked  for  further  particulars  of  the  won- 
derful convention  that  so  impressed  all  who  read  of  it  as  well 
as  those  who  attended  it. 

The  convention  of  180-?  was  held  in  Montreal; 
1893.'^^*  and,  though  a  riot  was  threatened  by  the  hoodlums 
of  the  Catholic  population,  excited  by  their  priests 
and  some  of  their  newspapers,  because  of  an  unguarded  utter- 
ance by  one  of  the  convention  speakers,  comparing  Catholi- 
cism to  Hinduism,  the  meeting  passed  ofif  triumphantly. 
The  Catholic  mayor,  who  suppressed  the  incipient  riot  by 
turning  the  hose  upon  the  rowdies,  received  a  great  ovation 
from  the  Endeavorers,  especially  when  he  declared  in  his 
farewell  speech  that  Montreal,  too,  like  the  Endeavorers, 
stood  "for  Christ  and  the  church,"  and  that  "her  steeples' 
were  and  always  had  been  higher  than  her  factory  chimneys." 

The  convention  of  1894  ^^  Cleveland  tested  the  pluck  of 
the  Endeavorers,  for  it  was  held  at  the  very  height  of  the 
greatest  railroad  strike  that  America  has  ever  known.  Roads 
were  tied  up  in  every  direction,  and  it  was  uncertain  whether 
any  one  who  started  would  reach  the  convention.  But  tens 
of  thousands  did  start,  and  the  strikers  themselves,  recogniz- 


366         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

ing  the  pacific  and  Christian  purposes  of  the  Endeavorers,  let 
the  convention  trains  go  through  without  delay  or  molesta- 
tion. The  martyr  president,  McKinley,  then  the  governor  of 
Ohio,  was  an  interested  attendant  at  this  convention,  and  spoke 
ringing  words  for  Christian  citizenship.  The  great  conven- 
tion in  Boston  in  1895  has  already  been  described. 

The  convention  of  1896  was  on  a  magnificent 
^06^*"^***"' scale,  and  was  held  in  the  capital  city  of  Washing- 
ton. Three  great  tents,  each  holding  ten  thousand 
people.  Tent  Endeavor,  Tent  Williston,  and  Tent  Washing- 
ton, spread  their  great  white  wings  over  the  "White  Lot,"  the 
use  of  which  the  government  gave  the  Endeavorers  as  a  spe- 
cial favor.  One  of  these  tents  blew  down  in  a  tremendous  cy- 
clonic storm  the  night  before  the  convention  was  to  begin. 
But  the  meeting  opened  on  time  in  spite  of  the  rain,  and 
by  the  vigorous  enterprise  of  the  Washington  committee  the 
wrecked  tent  was  repaired,  re-erected,  and  ready  for  occu- 
pation on  the  third  day  of  the  convention.  This  convention 
will  long  be  remembered  because  of  the  wonderful  praise 
service,  held  on  the  east  front  of  the  Capitol,  conducted  by 
Mr.  Percy  S.  Foster,  one  of  the  most  beloved  and  efficient 
of  the  leaders  of  Christian  Endeavor  song.  A  choir  of  five 
thousand  was  massed  upon  the  great  steps  of  the  Capitol,  and 
a  throng  estimated  at  all  the  way  from  fifty  to  a  hundred  thou- 
sand swelled  the  grand  volume  of  the  chorus.  It  is  said  that 
the  magnificent  anthem,  "Holy,  holy,  holy.  Lord  God  al- 
mighty," was  heard  more  than  a  mile  away,  by  people  upon 
the  streets  and  in  their  homes. 

In  1897  the  Christian  Endeavorers  carried  out 
Francisco,     perhaps  the  greatest  religious  excursion  ever  known 
^'  in  American  history,  for  twenty-five  thousand  per- 

sons, it  is  said,  crossed  the  mountains  to  California  to  attend 
the  Seventeenth  International  Convention.  The  railroad  au- 
thorities on  the  Pacific  coast  could  not  be  convinced  that  any 


Christian  Endeavor  in  the  Americas.       367 

such  numbers  would  think  of  attending  the  convention.  To 
the  secretary  of  the  United  Society,  Mr.  John  Willis  Baer, 
who  went  out  to  California  especially  to  prepare  for  the  meet- 
ings, one  of  the  vice-presidents  of  a  transcontinental  railway 
said,  when  told  that  ten  thousand  might  cross  the  mountains: 
"Young  man,  cut  those  figures  right  in  two.  I  know  better 
than  you  do.  A  convention  was  never  held  that  would  bring 
five  thousand  people  from  the  East."  The  "young  man" 
subsided,  but  it  was  found  that  his  figures  were  too  small  by 
more  than  one-half,  and  the  result  was  that,  having  prepared 
for  only  five  thousand,  the  railways  were  utterly  unprepared 
to  cope  with  five  times  that  number.  Some  of  the  many  ex- 
cursion trains  were  nine  or  ten  days  in  crossing  the  continent. 
Mountains  of  baggage  were  piled  up  awaiting  claimants, 
some  of  whom  did  not  get  their  belongings  until  the  conven- 
tion was  well  over. 

In  spite  of  these  difficulties,  however,  perhaps  in  part 
because  of  them,  the  convention  was  a  magnificent  success, 
and  will  long  be  remembered  by  the  people  on  the  coast. 

In  1898  the  Endeavor  hosts  went  to  Nashville,  and  had 
the  use  of  the  fine  buildings  in  which  the  exposition  of  South- 
ern industries  had  been  held.  The  report  of  the  conven- 
tion says:  "Nashville  has  enjoyed  the  very  best  Christian 
Endeavor  convention  yet  held  in  the  world.  In  every  par- 
ticular except  numbers  the  convention  surpassed  its  splendid 
predecessors.  It  was  more  practically  helpful,  more  spiritu- 
ally uplifting;  it  was  more  magnificently  patriotic,  more 
strikingly  brotherly,  more  thoughtful,  more  expressive,  more 
cordial,  and  more  lovable."  It  was  made  memorable  by  the 
fraternal  union  of  the  Blue  and  the  Gray.  In  the  presence 
of  Gen.  O.  O.  Howard  of  the  Union  army  and  Gen.  Clement 
A.  Evans,  formerly  of  the  Confederate  army,  and  also  of  Gen. 
John  T.  Morgan,  who  commanded  the  Union  forces  in  the 
battle  of  Nashville,  this  sentiment  was  incarnated.     A  piece 


368  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

of  the  original  "Old  Glory,"  which  had  been  owned  by  a 
Nashville  Unionist,  who  kept  it  sewed  up   in  his 
Blue  coverlid   during  the   war,   and   brought   it  out   to 

and  the        wave    over    the    capitol    when    the    Union    forces 
at  entered  it,  had  been  given  to  the  president  of  the 

Nashville.        -.^     .       ,    r^       .  ttti  i  i  11         r 

United  Society.  When  he  introduced  the  former 
Confederate  General  Evans,  he  handed  it  to  the  general,  who 
received  it,  with  emotion,  and  said,  "In  all  the  charges  I 
have  made  against  this  flag  I  have  never  seen  it  floating  befor 
me  on  crested  ridge  or  parapet  with  resentment  toward  it  iv 
my  heart." 

In  1899  ^  niost  successful  convention  was  held  in  Detroit. 
The  two  big  tents  were  surrounded  by  many  smaller  ones,  and 
the  "White  City"  was  the  centre  of  attraction  for  tens  of  thou- 
sands for  nearly  a  week.  Three  hundred  thousand  people, 
it  is  said,  attended  the  one  hundred  and  fifty  different  sessions; 
and  the  Quiet  Hours,  the  Conferences  for  local-union  offi- 
cers, the  prison  conference,  and  other  smaller  meetings,  as  well 
as  the  great  tent  gatherings,  made  this  convention  memorable. 

In  1900  the  American  Endeavorers  united  in  the  World's 
Convention  in  the  city  of  London,  as  has  already  been  de- 
scribed; but  in  1901  the  International  Convention  was  again 
held  on  American  soil,  this  time  in  the  hospitable  city  of  Cin- 
cinnati. The  traditions  of  the  past  were  fully  maintained  in 
this  meeting,  though  the  reputation  of  the  city  as  somewhat 
torrid  in  the  month  of  July — a  reputation  which  it  failed  to 
bear  out,  certainly  during  this  convention  week,  which  was 
delightfully  cool  and  comfortable — prevented  as  large  an  at- 
tendance as  at  some  other  meetings. 

In  1903  the  Endeavorers  journeyed  half  across 
1903^^'         t^^  continent  to  hold  their  convention  in  the  beau- 
tiful city  of  Denver.     This  was  the  first  of  the  bi- 
ennial conventions,  which  had  been  voted  two  years  before, 
in  order  that  in  the  intervening  year  more  emphasis  might 


christian   Endeavor  in  the  Americas.       369 

be  put  upon  the  State  and  local  conventions.  The  meeting- 
place  was  exactly  a  mile  high,  and  the  spiritual  altitude  well 
corresponded  to  the  physical.  The  Rev.  R.  J.  Campbell,  the 
successor  of  Dr.  Parker  in  the  City  Temple  of  London,  at- 
tended this  convention,  and  was  a  great  attraction  whenever  he 
spoke  in  tent  or  church.  The  only  untoward  event  was  the  col- 
lapse of  the  great  tent  in  a  hurricane  on  the  last  afternoon. 
Eight  thousand  persons  were  beneath  its  canvas  roof  at  the 


Tent    Endeavor,    Denver    Christian    Endeavor    Convention. 


time;  but  by  the  mercy  of  God,  and  because  of  the  coolness 
and  self-control  of  the  great  audience,  no  one  was  seriously 
hurt.  In  fact,  scarcely  a  scratch  was  received  by  any  one,  but 
the  imprisoned  multitudes  cut  their  way  through  the  canvas, 
and  five  minutes  afterward  were  standing  upon  the  debris  and 
piles  of  lumber  near  by,  singing  "Praise  God  from  whom  all 
blessings  flow." 

24 


370  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

The  last  convention  that  comes  within  the  survey  of  this 
history  was  held  in  the  city  of  Baltimore  in  1905,  and  it  has 
gone  down  in  the  history  of  conventions  as  perhaps  the  most 
enthusiastic  and  in  some  respects  the  most  remarkable  of  any 
that  has  ever  been  held.  The  building  used,  the  great  armory 
hall  of  the  Fifth  Regiment,  was  the  largest  ever  used,  and 
was  seated  for  16,500  people;  while  the  Lyric  Hall  near  by 
and  many  churches  were  also  used.  The  most  important  ad- 
vance step  taken  was  the  proposition  to  mark  the  completion 
of  the  first  quarter-century  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  move- 
ment by  the  raising  of  a  Memorial  Fund  for  the  erection  of 
suitable  Christian  Endeavor  headquarters,  and  for  an  endow- 
ment sufficient  to  put  the  world-wide  extension  work  of  En- 
deavor on  a  permanent  basis.  "The  atmosphere  may  have 
been  sticky  and  uncomfortable,"  says  a  reporter  of  this  meet- 
ing; "but  it  was  too  heavily  charged  with  cheer  and  joy,  en- 
thusiasm and  evangelism,  for  misanthropy.  Numbers  came, 
and  numbers  count,  and  never  was  there  a  more  convincing 
proof  of  the  inherent  vitality  and  vigor  of  the  Christian  En- 
deavor movement  than  was  given  in  Baltimore." 

While  the  great  conventions  make  the  deepest 
other  impression  upon  the  general  public,  they  are  not  by 

in  the  any  means  the  only  factor,  nor  perhaps  the  largest 

Growth  ^  .         ,  1         <-      1         /^i      •     •  -r^      1 

of  factor,   m  the  growth  of  the  Christian   Endeavor 

Endeavor,  movement.  Many  of  these  other  influences  are  un- 
seen at  first,  but  they  are  none  the  less  potent. 
Some  of  these,  like  the  rise  and  progress  of  "the  Quiet  Hour" 
and  the  "Tenth  Legion,"  the  development  of  the  local  union 
and  the  State  union,  have  been  described  in  other  chapters. 

One  of  the  most  reassuring  features  of  the  movement  is 
its  ability  to  develop  new  forms,  and  to  adopt  new  methods 
when  they  are  needed.  A  striking  illustration  of  this  is  found 
in  the  "Increase  Campaign."  It  was  in  the  year  1902  that 
the  writer  was  attending  the  Ohio  State  convention  in  Zanes- 


christian  Endeavor  in  the  Americas.        371 

ville.  It  was  a  good  meeting,  large,  enthusiastic,  full  of 
vigor.  But  it  seemed  to  him  that  more  yet  might  be  accom- 
plished, and  that  there  was  some  danger  that  the  Endeavorers 
of  Ohio  and  in  other  commonwealths  might  settle  down  to 
the  idea  that  they  had  won  the  victory,  and  that  there  was 
little  more  land  to  be  possessed.  So  at  one  of  the  meetings 
he  proposed  an  "Increase  Campaign,"  and  that  during  the 
next  year  the  Ohio  Endeavorers  should  strive  to  add  ten  per 
cent  to  the  number  of  their  societies.  It  seemed  like  a  large 
^  task,  for  there  were  already  between  three  and  four 

Increase  thousand  socicties  in  the  Buckeye  State,  and  it  was 
ampaign.  gyppQgg^j  |-j^^j-  nearly  all  the  churches  that  desired 
Christian  Endeavor  societies  already  had  them. 

But  the  leaders  of  the  State  union,  especially  the  inde- 
fatigable field  secretary.  Rev.  C.  H.  Hubbell,  took  up  the 
idea  with  enthusiasm,  went  to  work  with  a  will,  and  before 
the  twelve  months  were  out  had  gained  their  ten  per  cent. 
Within  two  years  more  than  seven  hundred  new  societies  had 
been  formed  in  Ohio,  and  her  officers  intend  to  close  the 
puarter-century  year  with  a  thousand  new  Endeavor  societies 
to  their  credit. 

This  idea  was  taken  up  with  almost  equal  enthusiasm  in 
other  States.  In  some  of  them  it  was  a  much  smaller  task  to 
gain  their  ten  per  cent,  for  they  had  comparatively  few  to 
base  a  percentage  on.  Thus  Indian  Territory  and  Oklahoma 
added  211  new  societies,  making  a  gain  of  sixty-four  and  a 
half  per  cent  in  two  years.  Indiana  gained  more  than  thirty 
per  cent  by  adding  t^'j']  societies.  Louisiana  added  42  socie- 
ties, nearly  fifty  per  cent  of  all  she  had  before.  Assiniboia 
gained  more  than  fifty  per  cent,  while  Hawaii  surpassed  all 
records  by  more  than  doubling  her  societies,  which  she  did 
in  two  years  by  adding  twenty-five  to  the  numbers  of  January, 
1903.  The  total  gain  in  societies  in  the  United  States  and 
Canada  in  the  two  years  following  the  beginning  of  the  In- 


372  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

crease  Campaign  was  6,780,  an  average  of  more  than  twenty- 
three  per  cent. 

In  1905  the  Increase  Campaign  idea  was  enlarged  by 
making  it  a  "Betterment"  as  well  as  an  "Increase  campaign," 
and  by  the  proposition  that  it  should  extend  over  ten  years, 
by  which  time  it  was  hoped  that  all  the  States  would  double 
their  numbers.  Better  meetings,  larger  missionary  contribu- 
tions, and  better  citizenship  efforts  were  all  to  be  recognized 
at  the  Baltimore  convention,  and  thousands  of  local  societies 
and  hundreds  of  local  unions  were  recorded  in  Secretary 
Vogt's  Recognition  Leaflet,  given  out  at  Baltimore  to  recog- 
nize the  reports  received  by  him  of  specially  fine  work  done 
by  the  societies  during  1904  and  1905.  It  is  a  pamphlet  of 
seventy  large  and  closely  printed  pages,  with  double  columns 
giving  only  a  line  to  each  society,  but  every  line,  by  a  system 
of  numerals,  signifying  a  lot  of  splendid  work  reported  by 
that  society. 

A  later  development  of  the  Society  in  Amer- 
Field  ica,  but  a  very  natural  one,  is  the  employment  of 

field  secretaries  by  the  different  States  whose  work 
has  grown  so  large  and  important  as  to  need  some  one  to 
give  his  whole  time  and  attention  to  it.  This  was  started 
in  Ohio  in  1901,  and  has  been  followed  by  Maine  and  Cali- 
fornia, Oregon  and  Colorado,  Massachusetts,  New  York, 
Kentucky,  and  other  States.  These  field  secretaries  have  often 
been  ministers  of  various  denominations,  though  sometimes 
young  laymen  are  chosen ;  but  in  every  instance  they  have 
not  only  rendered  valuable  service  to  the  Endeavor  move- 
ment, but  in  many  ways  have  helped  the  churches  in  other 
lines,  "doing  the  work  of  an  evangelist"  oftentimes,  and 
strengthening  in  many  ways  the  weak  places  in  the  walls  of 
Zion. 

The  developments  in  North  America  of  the  Christian 
Endeavor  Society  among  others  than  those  of  the  Caucasian 


christian  Endeavor  in  the  Americas.        373 

race  deserves  more  attention  than  can  be  given  in  this  chap- 
ter. The  colored  societies  are  very  numerous,  and  are  con- 
stantly increasing.  Two  of  the  most  eminent  bishops  of  the 
colored  churches  have  long  been  members  of  the  board  of 
trustees  of  the  United  Society,  and  another  of  the  race  repre- 
sents the  colored  Baptist  churches.  No  color  line  is  ever 
drawn  in  the  national  conventions,  and  such  speakers  as 
Bishop  Arnett  and  Bishop  Walters  and  Booker  T.  Washing- 
ton are  among  the  most  acceptable  Christian  Endeavor  con- 
vention orators. 

The  colored  societies  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  are  called  "Allen  Societies"  after  one  of  their  leaders, 
and  the  societies  in  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion 
Church  belong  to  the  so-called  '^Varick  Union."  In  Flori 
Ida  alone  there  were  at  the  last  report  163  societies  of  the 
'Allen  League  of  Christian  Endeavor,"  143  of  which  had 
been  formed  in  the  previous  year.  j 

Christian  ^^^  work  of  Christian  Endeavor  among  the 

Endeavor      North  American  Indians  has  always  been  most  in- 

Among  •  A      1  • 

the  terestmg.     A   home   missionary   tells    of    seeing   a 

Indians.  r  t     j*  ^      ^'  .  ^ 

company  of  young  Indians  starting  out  one  day  on 
their  bronchos  for  a  new  settlement  some  miles  distant. 
When  he  asked  them  where  they  were  going,  they  told  hirn" 
that  they  were  the  committee  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  so- 
ciety of  that  reservation,  and  that  they  were  going  to  form 
another  society  in  this  new  settlement  of  whites  for  which  they 
were  bound.  Truly  that  is  a  reversal  of  former  history,  when 
the  Indians  carry  the  gospel  to  the  whites. 

Among  many  tribes  of  Indians  are  whole-souled  Endeav- 
orers;  and,  when  the  Rosebud  Indian  Reservation  of  South 
Dakota  was  opened  up  last  year,  Christian  Endeavor  entered 
as  soon  as  the  white  settlers,  and  found  itself  no  stranger  in  the 
happy  hunting-grounds  of  the  red  men. 

There  are  but  four  societies  in  Alaska,  but  some  most  ad- 


374 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


mirable  and  active  Endeavorers  are  found  among  them.  The 
Rev.  Mr.  Marsden,  a  full-blooded  Alaskan,  has  long  been 
active  in  the  work,  and  has  been  an  acceptable  speaker  at  more 
than  one  convention. 

The  Chinese  Endeavorers  in  America  are  among  the 
most  generous  and  devoted  of  all.  The  society  which  has 
long  held  the  record  for  the  largest  benevolence,  barring  only 
one  in  all  the  land,  is  a  Chinese  society  in  San  Francisco, 
which  for  a  number  of  years  has  averaged  about  $i,8oo  a 
year  for  mission  work. 


Canadian  Endeavorers  at  Dr.   Clark's   Birthplace,  Aylmer,   Quebec. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  mention  the  dififerent  nationalities 
in  America  that  are  interested  in  the  Endeavor  movement, 
since,  though  they  sometimes  meet  by  themselves,  they  also 
form  an  integral  part  of  the  American  hosts.  It  is  necessary 
only  to  say  that  there  are  societies  speaking  German  and 
Welsh,  Bohemian,  Polish,  Hungarian,  Swedish,  and  Nor- 
wegian.    Almost  all  of  these  Endeavorers  are  bilingual,  and 


Christian   Endeavor  in  the  Americas.       375 

also  join  in  the  meetings  and  the  work  of  their  English- 
speaking  comrades.  A  large  conference  of  the  German  socie- 
ties of  the  Atlantic  district  was  recently  held  in  Brooklyn,  a 
German  Endeavor  paper  was  proposed,  and  a  general  secre- 
tary was  chosen,  while  the  Welsh  societies  also  have  a  yearly 
convention  of  their  own,  usually  in  one  of  the  interior  States. 
Canada  and  the  United  States  for  all  Chris- 
Dominion  tian  Endeavor  purposes  may  be  considered  as  one 
cinada  Country,  for  they  belong  to  the  same  international 
union,  and  their  interests  are  largely  the  same, 
though  a  Dominion  Union  has  also  been  formed  to  give  espe- 


The   Cathedral    in    ]\Icxico   City. 

cial  attention  to  Canadian  affairs.  In  two  or  three  of  the 
Provinces  of  Canada  there  was  for  several  years  an  apparent 
decline  in  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement,  and  an  actual 


376  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

loss  in  the  numbers  reported,  the  only  country  in  the  world, 
so  far  as  I  know,  of  which  this  could  be  said.  This  decline 
was  most  marked  in  the  Maritime  Provinces  and  in  Ontario, 
but  it  is  believed  to  be  only  temporary.  Indeed,  there  are  al- 
ready signs  of  quickening  in  these  Provinces.  The  Quebec 
Union,  splendidly  manned,  was  never  more  active  than  now, 
and  in  Manitoba  and  the  Northwest  constant  and  rapid  gain 
has  been  reported. 

Mexico  has  long  had  a  vigorous  and  devoted 

Mexico's  ^,      .      .  T-      1  ^-  ^        --ri  •      • 

Endeav=  Christian  Endeavor  contingent.  1  he  missionaries, 
*"'^'*^'  especially  of  the  Congregational  and  Presbyterian 

churches,  have  taken  great  interest  in  the  Society  from  the 
start.  Some  of  the  noblest  examples  of  heroism  in  Christian 
work,  of  determination  in  overcoming  obstacles,  of  long  and 
difficult  journeys  taken  to  attend  the  conventions,  come  from 
this  great  republic.  Mexico's  last  records  show  133  Christian 
Endeavor  societies,  a  gain  in  membership,  though  not  in  socie- 
ties, of  25  per  cent.  Their  last  convention  was  reported  to 
be  the  "best  yet,"  and  new  plans  were  laid  for  the  larger  work 
of  the  future.  The  official  organ  of  the  society  is  El  Esfor- 
zado  Mexicano,  and  a  good  one  it  is.  No  one  has  done  more 
for  Christian  Endeavor  in  Mexico  than. Mrs.  C.  S.  Williams, 
of  the  Presbyterian  Board,  who  has  long  been  the  secretary  of 
the  Union.  Rev.  James  D.  Eaton,  D.  D.,  and  Mrs.  Eaton, 
among  other  missionaries,  have  also  been  especially  helpful 
to  the  cause  in  its  earlier  days. 

As  we  go  farther  south,  we  find  in  Costa  Rica  ten  socie- 
ties, in  Guatemala  three,  while  others  are  reported  on  the 
Mosquito  Coast  and  in  other  parts  of  Central  America.  The 
islands  on  the  American  coast  are  treated  in  another  chapter. 

,  Coming  to  South  America,  we  find  that  Bra- 

in _    ,  =•  ' 

South  zil  is  pre-eminently  the  Christian  Endeavor  coun- 

try of  this  part  of  America.     Here  are  found  62 
societies,  43  of  them  being  in  the  enterprising  province  of 


christian  Endeavor  in  the  Americas.        377 

Sao  Paulo.  Exceedingly  interesting  accounts  come  from 
Brazil  of  picturesque  conventions  and  of  faithful  work  done 
by  the  Endeavorers.  The  growth  in  this  great  country  has 
been  most  remarkable  of  late  years,  considering  the  obsta- 
cles encountered  and  the  great  predominance  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  In  1900  there  were  only  two  societies  in  all  Brazil; 
now  the  two  have  been  multiplied  by  thirty-two.  Most  prac- 
tical and  efficient  work,  too,  is  done  by  the  Brazilian  Endeav- 


^^■m^^^KJi^HSS^^^BVaBB^BHIKSnH 

■     ,.^;^:      ' 

-i 

■     -  -i 

1 

Mi. 

1  If 

»   1  f 

■■K 

1 

t        '    **' 

1 

1 

1 

-Ale.;-.  « 

1^  ^  ^* 

^ 

u 

i.^ 

^^ 

^ 

.»  ».    a 

.«>^. 

^=*  ■  1 

^.  '^ 

II 

^^^ 

■■„„..( 

•».,   ; 

»  - 

a 

The  Second  National  Christian  Endeavor  Convention  in  Brazil. 

orers.  The  Anglican  society  of  Sao  Paulo,  for  instance,  con- 
ducts a  seamen's  reading-room,  where  sailors  of  all  nation- 
alities may  find  a  welcome  and  literature  in  their  own  lan- 
guage. The  Union  Presbyterian  Endeavorers  of  the  same 
city  do  much  out-of-door  missionary  work,  holding  meetings 
in  different  parts  of  the  city  and  in  the  suburbs.     The  native 


378 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


Brazilians  are  trying  to  interest  the  Germans,  Italians,  and 
other  nationalities  in  Christian  Endeavor  with  large  hope  of 
success,  and  the  last  national  convention  that  w^as  held  was  one 
of  unequalled  power.  At  this  convention  sixteen  ministers, 
representing  five  denominations,  took  part,  and  greetings  were 
received  from  many  parts  of  the  world.  A  chorus  sang  for 
the  first  time  the  new  national  Christian  Endeavor  hymn, 
written  by  Teixira  da  Silva,  while  the  evangelistic  spirit  was 


Group  of  Endeavorers  in  Sao  Paulo,  Brazil. 

marked  throughout  the  convention,  and  is  characteristic  of 
Brazilian  Endeavor. 

Missionaries  of  various  denominations  have  very  effi- 
ciently helped  the  cause.  To  Mr.  R.  W.  Fenn,  of  the  Pres- 
byterian mission  in  Brazil,  must  be  given  especial  credit  for 
enthusiastic  labors  while  he  was  in  Brazil,  and  for  raising 
money  to  help  the  Endeavorers  there  since  he  returned  to 
'America.     Of  all  the  Brazilians,  none  have  done  more  for 


christian  Endeavor  in  the  Americas.        379 

the  cause  than  the  general  secretary  of  the  Brazilian  Union, 
Rev.  Eliezer  dos  Sanctos  Saraiva. 

But  little  as  yet  has  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  writer 
concerning  other  South  American  countries,  though  most  of 
them  have  small  Christian  Endeavor  contingents,  and  have 
doubtless  made  interesting  history,  were  it  only  known.  Co- 
lombia is  credited  with  five  societies,  Chile  with  six,  British 
Guiana,  where  the  Society  has  been  especially  vigorous,  has 
eleven,  while  other  societies  are  known  to  exist  in  the  Argen- 
tine Republic,  in  Uruguay  and  Venezuela.  It  is  evidently 
the  intention  of  the  Endeavorers  of  this  great  section  of  Amer- 
ica, as  it  certainly  is  of  the  officers  of  the  World's  Union,  that 
South  America  shall  not  be  the  "neglected  continent"  of 
Christian  Endeavor. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 
CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR  IN  EUROPE. 

TELLING  THE  PART  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN,  GERMANY, 
AND  THE  OTHER  COUNTRIES  OF  CONTINENTAL  EU- 
ROPE IN  THE  WORK  OF  CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR,  ITS 
BEGINNINGS  AND  SUBSEQUENT  GROWTH  IN  ALL 
THESE  LANDS. 

"  To  our  dear  brothers  in  Christian  Endeavor  who  here 
represent  the  great  European  nationalities  —  France  and 
Spain,  Germany  and  Sweden,  Switzerland  and  Italy,  and 
perchance  others  also,  I  would  say:  'Surely  your  coming  is 
the  expression  of  a  warm  desire  for  a  good  understanding  be- 
tween nation  and  nation.  We  reciprocate  that  sentiment. 
Your  presence  here  is  a  prophecy  of  that  perhaps  distant  but 
sure-coming  day,  when  nation  shall  not  vex  nation,  and  when 
they  shall  learn  war   no  more.'  " 

Rev.    J.    B.    Alorgan,   at    the   London    Convention. 

HE  Story  of    the  Christian    Endeavor  movement 
in  every  country  in  Europe  is  but  a  repetition 
of    the  ever-interesting  story    of    providential 
openings,    small    beginnings,    numerous    ob- 
stacles, and  finally  substantial  growth;  at  least 
this  is  the  story  of  the  Society  where  it  has  been  in  existence 
long  enough  to  get  beyond  its  initial  stage,  and  really  make  a' 
home  and  a  welcome  for  itself. 

The  beginning  of  the  Society  in  Great  Britain  and  one 
of  the  great  conventions  there  have  already  been  described 
at  some  length,  and  the  recent  growth  has  been  so  many-sided 
and  so  general  throughout  all  parts  of  the  United  Kingdom 
that  only  the  briefest  view  can  be  given  in  this  chapter.    Other 

380 


Christian  Endeavor  in  Europe.  381 


Officers  and  Workers  in  Europe. 


Rev.  Horace  Button, 

Switzerland. 

Rev.  Frederick  Blecher, 

Germany. 
Rev.  J.   H.  House, 
Salonica,  Macedonia. 


Vicente  Mateu, 

Treasurer  of  the   Spanish   C.  E. 

Efr.   Rang, 
Johanneslund,  Stockholm. 
Rev.  V.  Van  Der  Beken, 
General   Secretary,   France. 


382  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

chapters  will  tell  more  of  the  works  of  mercy  and  various 
lines  of  church  and  philanthropic  activity  undertaken  by  the 
British  Endeavorers. 

For  the  most  part,  Christian  Endeavor  in  Great  Britain 
has  developed  along  the  same  lines  that  the  Society  has  fol- 
lowed in  America,  and  many  of  the  plans  used  in  America, 
like  the  "Quiet  Hour,"  the  "Tenth  Legion,"  the  "Increase 
Campaign,"  etc.,  have  been  found  of  equal  value  in  Great 
Britain.  It  has  also  developed  national  characteristics  of  its 
own,  as  the  Society  is  sure  to  do,  owing  to  its  flexibility  and 
adaptability  of  method. 

The  Sunday-School  Union  was  the  first  sponsor  for 
Christian  Endeavor  in  Great  Britain,  and,  when  there  were 
but  a  few  societies  in  all  the  country  besides  the  original 
British  society  in  the  High  Street  Church  of  Crewe,  invited 
the  writer  to  tell  the  British  public  something  of  the  new 
organization.  This  was  in  1888,  and  the  invitation  was  re- 
peated in  1891,  when  the  quartette  of  American  ministers 
already  named  visited  a  score  of  different  places  in  Great 
Britain,  including  such  important  centres  as  Bristol,  Ports- 
mouth, Taunton,  Boston,  Colchester,  Sunderland,  besides 
holding  a  number  of  meetings  in  different  parts  of  London. 
They  undertook  the  journey  at  their  own  expense,  except  so 
far  as  travelling-expenses  from  place  to  place  in  England 
were  concerned,  and  they  were  everywhere  most  kindly  and 
hospitably  received. 

Q^^^^  From  this  time  the  cause  went  rapidly  for- 

Conventions  ward.  The  conventions  are  upon  the  same  gen- 
Great  erous  scale  as  in  America,  and  Manchester  and  Bir- 
Bntain.  rningham  and  Shefiield  and  Glasgow  and  Belfast 
and  Newcastle  and  Bristol  are  all  memorable  in  Christian 
Endeavor  convention  annals.  The  national  convention  of 
1904,  held  in  London,  was  particularly  memorable  because  of 
the  formation  of  the  European  Christian  Endeavor  Central 


christian  Endeavor  in  Europe.  383 

Bureau.  Representatives  from  a  dozen  different  countries  in 
Europe  met  in  a  room  of  the  Sunday-School  Union  on  the  Old 
Bailey,  and  formed  the  European  Union,  which  is  destined  to 
do  a  great  and  most-needed  work  throughout  all  the  Continent, 
bringing  together  the  forces  that  speak  so  many  different  lan- 
guages, and  yet  are  all  united  in  the  bonds  of  Christian  En- 
deavor. Since  the  Society  began  to  gather  strength  and  head- 
way in  Great  Britain  its  affairs  have  been  wisely  managed 
by  a  National  Council  representing  all  denominations  and  all 
parts  of  the  United  Kingdom.  This  Council  chooses  the 
president  of  the  Union,  and  also  a  chairman  to  preside  over 
its  own  deliberations  every  year. 

Nor  has  the  president  been  any  mere  figurehead,  but  has 
always  done  efficient  service,  travelling  hither  and  yon,  from 
Land's  End  to  John  O'  Groat's,  wherever  he  was  called  by  the 
Endeavorers.  Even  so  busy  a  man  as  the  Rev.  F.  B.  Meyer 
found  time  to  accept  the  presidency  of  the  British  Union  with 
all  that  it  involved,  for  one  year,  and  sacredly  set  apart  one 
day  out  of  every  week  from  his  multifarious  duties  to  answer 
Christian  Endeavor  calls  from  far  and  near.  Rev.  John  R. 
Fleming,  during  the  year  of  his  incumbency  of  the  office, 
stimulated  the  literary  as  well  as  the  spiritual  side  of  Christian 
Endeavor,  and  still  continues  to  guide  the  literary  circles  with 
courses  of  studies  in  general  reading,  in  the  Bible,  and  in 
church  history.  The  eloquent  voice  of  the  Rev.  Joseph 
Brown  Morgan,  one  of  the  earlier  presidents,  was  heard  in 
every  part  of  Great  Britain  pleading  for  the  principles  of 
Christian  Endeavor. 

The  Rev.  W.  Bainbridge  was  most  active  during  the  year 
of  his  presidency  in  presenting  Christian  Endeavor  to  the  eye 
as  well  as  the  ear  by  means  of  beautifully  illustrated  lectures. 
The  Rev.  E.  R.  Barrett  was  untiring  in  his  efforts,  during  his 
incumbency,  while  the  present  president,  the  Rev.  Bishop  E. 
R.  Hasse,  is  no  less  zealous  in  his  efforts  for  the  advancement 


384  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

of  the  cause.  A  different  denomination  each  year  is  repre- 
sented in  the  presidential  chair,  and  all  these  incumbents  are 
busy  men  with  large  parishes  of  their  own  to  look  after. 

But,  while  presidents  come  and  presidents  go,  the  Rev. 
W.  Knight  Chaplin,  the  secretary  of  the  Union,  remains  at 
his  post,  which  he  has  occupied  from  the  formation  of  the 
national  union.  With  marvellous  industry  he  not  only  attends 
to  his  secretarial  duties,  but  edits  The  Christian  Endeavour 
Times  as  well,  preaches  on  Sunday  to  his  own  congregation, 
and  goes  here  and  there  throughout  Great  Britain  to  scores  of 
conventions  at  the  call  of  the  Endeavorers. 
Scotch,  The  different  parts  of  the  United  Kingdom, 

Irish,  Ireland,  Scotland,  and  Wales,  have  developed  their 

and  '  '  '^ 

Welsh  own  Christian  Endeavor  unions,  and  have  their  own 

annual  conventions,  meetings  large  in  numbers  and 
of  wide  influence.  Somewhat  like  the  State  unions  in  Amer- 
ica, they  manage  their  own  affairs,  but  are  in  sympathetic 
relations  with  the  national  union.  The  Scotch,  Irish,  and 
Welsh  contingents  all  have  their  characteristics,  and  all  add 
their  own  individual  harmonious  note  to  the  Christian  En- 
deavor symphony.  The  Isle  of  Man,  too,  has  its  own  vigor- 
ous "Manx  Union,"  with  an  admirable  monthly  magazine  of 
its  own  devoted  to  the  interests  of  Christian  Endeavor. 

Some  of  the  local  unions  of  Great  Britain  are  of  great 
strength  and  importance,  the  London  Union,  indeed,  being 
the  largest  in  the  world,  with  more  than  seven  hundred  socie- 
ties, divided  into  nineteen  divisions,  each  doing  what  it  can 
for  the  spiritual  uplift  of  the  world's  metropolis. 

The  Yorkshire  Union  and  the  Lancashire  and  Cheshire 
Federation  also  number  tens  of  thousands  of  Endeavorers, 
and,  like  many  other  vigorous  local  unions,  have  a  distinct  and 
most  vigorous  life  of  their  own.  A  considerable  number  of 
societies  are  not  as  yet  connected  with  the  national  union,  so 
that  the  total  number  is  larger  than  the  reports  indicate. 


christian  Endeavor  in  Europe.  385 

To  attempt  to  characterize  the  work  of  these  unions  in 
detail  would  be  a  hopeless  task.  A  volume  should  be  given 
to  each  one,  but  the  writer  can  say  from  personal  visits  to  al- 
most every  one  of  them  that  no  more  enthusiastic  companies  of 
Christian  Endeavorers  meet  together  in  any  part  of  the  world 
than  are  found  in  these  British  unions.  Indeed,  he  would 
give  the  palm  to  them  for  hearty  and  uplifting  congregational 
singing,  and  for  genuine  enthusiasm  which  stirs  a  speaker's 
heart  and  brings  out  the  best  that  is  in  him  they  divide  the 
honors  with  their  Australian  brethren,  if  they  do  not  excel  all 
others.  British  and  Australian  audiences  are  far  more  demon- 
strative and  inspiring  to  address  than  those  in  America  or  in 
most  other  parts  of  the  world. 

The  different  divisions  of  the  Methodist  Church,  with 
the  exception  of  the  Wesleyan,  have  fostered  Christian  En- 
deavor more  heartily  than  the  other  denominations,  and  have 
reaped  the  advantage  of  such  fostering  care.  Especially  have 
the  Primitive  Methodists  made  great  progress  of  late  years  in 
the  number  and  vigor  of  their  societies.  The  rise  and  prog- 
ress of  the  Church  of  England  Christian  Endeavor  Union 
with  its  helpful  meetings  and  its  admirable  magazine  has  been 
most  gratifying. 

Next   to    Great   Britain    in    the    number    and 

Vigorous  ,         ,    .        ,^,      .     .         f-^      ,  .      . 

Growth  Strength  of  its  Christian  Endeavor  societies  comes 
Germany.  Germany,  where  the  work  is  practically  only  ten 
years  old.  A  romance  of  religion  is  the  story  of 
Christian  Endeavor  in  Germany.  Had  the  writer  been  told 
ten  years  ago  that  by  this  time  there  would  be  three  hundred 
societies  in  the  Fatherland,  nine  well-equipped  Christian  En- 
deavor districts,  holding  their  annual  conventions,  a  general 
secretary,  two  field  secretaries,  a  Christian  Endeavor  maga- 
zine, a  Junior  paper,  and  a  large  amount  of  Christian  En- 
deavor literature,  he  would  have  said  like  the  sceptic  of  old, 
"If  the  Lord  would  make  windows  in  heaven,  might  this  thing 

25 


386 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


be?"  But  it  has  all  come  to  pass,  and  in  a  most  natural  and 
gradual  way,  so  that  the  extent  of  the  growth  can  hardly  be 
realized.  Not  that  the  numbers  are  as  yet  very  large;  but 
when  the  obstacles  overcome  are  considered,  and  the  indiffer- 
ence with  which  the  Society  was  received  at  first  is  remem- 
bered, the  growth  seems  little  less  than  marvellous. 

Under  the  blessing  of  God,  to  whom  he  first  of  all  would 
ascribe  these  successes,  the  growth  of  Christian  Endeavor  in 


Scandinavian   Delegates   to   Christian   Endeavor   Convention   in   Berlin. 

Germany  is  due  to  the  Rev.  Frederick  Blecher,  who  from 
the  beginning  has  been  the  hard-working,  self-sacrificing,  de- 
voted secretary,  never  discouraged,  always  cheerful  and  hope- 
ful of  results.  Willing  to  foster  small  beginnings  and  to  take 
hold  vigorously  of  discouraging  "propositions,"  he  has  won 
for  himself  an  enviable  place  among  the  leaders  of  Christian 
Endeavor. 

Many  important  and  influential  conventions  have  been 


christian  Endeavor  in  Europe.  387 

held  in  Germany  during  these  ten  years,  but  the  crown  of  them 
all  was  the  European  convention  in  Berlin  in  1905,  where,  as 
Mr.  Blecher  writes: 

^'Christian  Endeavor  became  for  the  first  time  widely 
known  in  the  capital  and  to  the  higher  Christian  circles.  The 
highest  church  officer  of  Berlin,  General  Superintendent  D. 
D.  Faber,  welcomed  the  convention  in  Circus  Schumann,  and 
many  denominations  shook  hands  and  worked  together,  in  our 
Fatherland  a  rare  thing  indeed. 

"If  before  that  convention  we  had  much  resistance,  open 
or  secret,  we  find  now  many  open  doors,  and  much  more  inter- 
est (though  also  critics)  ;  and  the  number  of  societies  and  mem- 
bers is  constantly  growing. 

"Our  German  United  Society  is  divided  into  nine  unions, 
which  all  have  conventions  once  or  twice  a  year,  blessed  con- 
ventions, where  especially  the  Lord  is  deepening  the  work; 
for  the  dififerent  parts  of  our  country  have  all  their  individual 
needs,  and  there  they  can  best  become  fulfilled.  I  think  that 
is  a  great  advantage  of  the  state  unions. 

"We  are  so  glad  that  through  the  extended  distribution 
of  our  literature  our  influence  is  extending  in  the  most  north- 
ern countries  of  Europe,  in  Austria,  Poland,  Sweden,  the 
Baltic  provinces,  and  others." 

Mr.  Blecher  sends  many  testimonies  from 
German  German  pastors  to  the  value  of  the  Christian  En- 
Endeavor      deavor    Society   in    their    churches,    which   would 

Missionary.    '-*       *  j  '  _ 

make  interesting  reading,  did  space  permit  of  their 
introduction.  We  can  add  here  only  that  two  field  secretaries. 
Pastor  Urbschat  and  Mr.  H.  Laus,  assist  Pastor  Blecher  in 
his  work,  and  that  the  Rev.  S.  Hugenschmidt  has  just  been 
sent  as  a  missionary  by  the  Christian  Endeavor  forces  of  Ger- 
many to  the  Caroline  Islands  to  work  under  the  auspices  of 
the  American  Board,  which  has  long  been  engaged  in  the 
evangelization  of  these  islands.  When  these  were  taken  over 
by  Germany,  the  operations  of  the  American  missionaries 
were  greatly  disturbed;  and  now,  to  show  the  sympathy  of 


388  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

German  Christians,  and  especially  of  German  Endeavorers, 
with  this  work,  these  young  people,  with  the  full  approval  of 
their  pastors,  support  this  missionary  of  the-  American  society, 
a  truly  remarkable  instance  of  international  and  interdenomi- 
national brotherly  love. 

The  financial  success  of  the  German  Union  has  long  been 
a  source  of  surprise,  possibly  of  envy,  to  Endeavorers  in  other 
lands.  That  a  company  of  young  people  so  comparatively 
small,  and  few  of  them  wealthy,  can  with  ease  support  so  ex- 
tensive a  work  in  their  own  land,  besides  sending  a  missionary 
to  the  other  side  of  the  world,  and  then  have  something  left 
over  for  the  advancement  of  Christian  Endeavor  in  neighbor- 
ing countries,  is  indeed  surprising.  But  the  explanation  is  not 
far  to  seek.  To  good  financial  management  on  the  part  of  the 
leaders  is  added  systematic  generosity  on  the  part  of  the  mem- 
bers, each  one  of  whom  contributes  half  a  mark  a  year  (twelve 
and  a  half  cents  in  American  money,  or  an  English  sixpence) 
for  the  advance  of  Christian  Endeavor. 

For  a  little  time  Germany  received  financial  aid  from  the 
United  Society  in  America,  but  very  soon,  in  the  true  spirit  of 
Christian  independence,  it  began  not  only  to  care  for  its  own, 
but  to  help  the  "regions  beyond." 

In  the  Lutheran  countries  to  the  north  of  Germany  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  is  also  making  vigorous  headway,  except  in 
Denmark,  where  as  yet  it  has  scarcely  begun  its  work,  though 
one  or  two  societies  exist  in  the  kingdom. 

Scandi=  Sweden  has  long  been  the  leader  in  Scandi- 

navia. .  .  .  ,^,       .       .  T^       1 

navian  countries  m  Christian  Endeavor  matters. 
The  writer  on  three  occasions  has  received  a  very  cordial 
welcome  from  the  Christian  people  of  Sweden,  and  both  in 
the  state  church  and  in  the  free  churches,  especially  those 
of  the  Baptist  denomination,  the  cause  is  growing  strong. 
The  king  of  Sweden  himself  has  expressed  to  me  his  interest 
in  the  cause,  and  his  second  son,  the  devoted  Prince  Oscar 


christian  Endeavor  in  Europe.  389 

Bernadotte,  takes  a  deep  interest  in  the  societies,  as  he  does  in 
all  Christian  work  for  the  young.  Sweden  now  reports  more 
than  two  hundred  societies,  and  Professor  Rang,  of  the  Lu- 
theran Church,  and  Mr.  August  Palm,  of  the  Baptist  Church, 
deserve  especial  credit  for  being  the  pioneers  of  the  Society 
in  their  respective  denominations. 

In  Norway  Christian  Endeavor  is  of  much  more  recent 
growth  than  in  Sweden.  In  fact,  it  hardly  obtained  a  fair  start 
until  in  1905  the  Rev.  Horace  Dutton,  who  has  done  so  much 
for  the  cause  throughout  Europe,  settled  down  for  a  serious 


A  Christian  Endeavor  Convention  in  Sweden. 

campaign  among  the  Norwegians,  going  from  city  to  city  and 
from  pastor  to  pastor  to  explain  the  principles  of  the  move- 
ment, to  dispel  prejudices,  to  remove  misapprehensions,  and 
to  commend  the  Society  to  a  most  earnest  company  of  Chris- 
tians, who  have  become  thoroughly  enthusiastic  Christian  En- 
deavorers.  Though  the  societies  are  not  many  at  this  writ- 
ing, yet  Norwegian  Christian  Endeavor  will  have  a  large  and 
honorable  place,  I  believe,  in  the  history  of  the  future. 

In  Finland  the  Society  has  had  a  most  auspici- 

Growth         ous  beginning.     On  visiting  Helsingfors  in  1902  I 

Finland.        deemed  it  my  duty  to  explain  to  the  audience  that 

gathered  in  the  hall  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian 

Association  the  principles  of  Christian  Endeavor  in  the  sim- 


390  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

plest  and  most  elemental  way,  supposing  that  few,  if  any,  of 
my  auditors  had  ever  heard  of  the  Society  before.  What  was 
my  surprise  to  be  addressed  after  the  meeting  by  a  young  Finn, 
who  told  me  in  very  good  English  that  he  belonged  to  a  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  society  in  Helsingfors,  and  that  there  were  a 
number  of  Endeavorers  present!  This  was  Professor  Sax- 
back,  who  has  since  been  the  leader  throughout  the  Grand 
Duchy.  It  seems  that  he  had  been  in  America,  and,  living  in 
Milwaukee,  had  become  a  member  of  a  society  there.  On 
his  return  to  Finland  he  established  the  organization  in  his 
native  city,  and  now  we  find  that  there  are  more  than  twenty 
societies  in  Finland  that  are  doing  an  excellent  work. 

Since  Finland  is  a  part  of  Russia  we  can  easily  pass  on 
to  other  parts  of  this  vast  empire.  In  St.  Petersburg  we  find 
at  least  one  strong  society  in  the  Anglo-American  Church, 
which  Baron  Nikolai,  well  known  in  court  circles  as  well  as 
among  the  Christian  forces  of  St.  Petersburg,  speaks  of  as  "a 
blessed  haven  of  rest"  for  him.  But  the  largest  development 
of  Christian  Endeavor  in  Russia  is  found  in  the  Baltic  prov- 
inces, especially  in  the  Lettish  provinces.*  There  the  So- 
ciety has  found  an  enthusiastic  friend  in  the  Rev.  Robert 
Bahtz,  who  has  become  the  field  secretary  of  the  cause  in  this 
part  of  Russia.  His  enthusiasm  breathes  in  every  word  of 
his  letters.  This  short  extract  from  one  tells  of  the  beginning 
of  Christian  Endeavor  among  the  Lettish  people: 

A^ong  *T  send  you  the  good  news  that  through  the 

the  grace  of  God  the  Young  People's  Society  of  Chris- 

^^*'^'  tian  Endeavor  has  found  a  foothold  in  the  Baltic 

provinces  of  Russia.  For  this  the  glory  is  God's  alone.  His 
name  be  praised  in  all  lands  and  all  languages!     Through  the 

*  The  latest  reports  at  the  close  of  1905  record  36  societies  with  579  members 
in  the  Russian-Baltic  Christian  Endeavor  Union,  of  which  16  are  in  Livland, 
7  in  Kurland,  and  13  among  the  Letts  in  other  parts  of  Russia.  Though  the  Society 
has  not  yet  found  its  way  into  the  Greek  Church  of  Russia,  there  are  some  who 
predict  that  its  largest  field  in  the  future,  when  thoroughly  understood,  will  be  in 
that  church. 


christian  Endeavor  in  Europe. 


391 


Lettish  paper,  The  Evangelist,  the  cause  of  Christian  En- 
deavor has  become  known  among  the  Lettish  people,  and  we 
hope  that  it  will  have  a  great  future  among  them.  There  are 
already,  four  societies:  one  German  in  Dorpat,  and  in  Riga, 
Rujen,  and  Tuckum  each  one  Lettish  society.  Hallelujah! 
We  have  already  a  hundred  members  in  Russia." 

In  Austria  and  Bohemia  the  work  has  been  promoted  by 
the  American  missionaries  *  and  Pastor  Alois  Adlof  is  the 


First  Christian   Endeavor   Convention  Held   in   Russia   at   Rujen,   Livonia. 

efficient  secretary  of  the  work,  which  is  yet  in  its  infancy  in 
those  countries. 

In  Hungary  greater  progress  has  been  made,  and  sixteen 
societies  are  reported.  The  worthy  leader  of  the  work  is 
Professor  Szabo,  of  the  University  of  Budapest,  whose  father- 
in-law,  the  Rev.  Theodore  Biberauer,  first  became  interested 
in  the  movement  in  Hungary  about  ten  years  ago.  Professor 
Szabo  has  published  in  Hungarian  religious  periodicals  many 
articles  about  the  Society,  and  to  his  enthusiastic  leadership 
are  largely  due  the  substantial  beginnings  of  the  work  in  this 

*  The  Rev.  A.  W.  Clark,  D.D.,  and  the  Rev.  J.  S.  Porter. 


392         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

great  progressive  country.  Pastor  Julius  Forgacs  is  the  secre- 
tary of  Christian  Endeavor  work  in  Hungary.  There  are 
some  Junior  societies  as  w^ell  as  societies  for  young  people, 
and  one  of  the  latest  efforts  is  a  society  for  the  university  men 
of  Budapest. 

In  the  Balkan  States,  too,  Christian  Endeavor 
is  well  represented.  If  the  numbers  are  not  large, 
the  quality  is  of  the  very  best.  Both  in  Bulgaria 
and  in  Macedonia  the  work  is  started.  In  Phil- 
ippopolis,  Samokov,  Sofia,  and  Salonica  are  societies,  and 
there  are  beginnings  which  promise  larger  things  in  the  years 


In 
the 

Balkan 
States. 


Executive  Committee  of  Hungarian  Christian  Endeavor  Union. 

to  come.  Perhaps  the  most  interesting  centre  of  Christian 
Endeavor  in  the  Balkan  States  is  Monastir  in  Macedonia, 
where  there  are  no  less  than  four  societies.  In  these  four  so- 
cieties are  people  of  six  nationalities,  Bulgarians,  Servians, 
Albanians,  Wallachians,  Greeks,  and  Americans.  In  Samo- 
kov, among  the  warm-hearted  Bulgarian  students  the  writer 


christian  Endeavor  in  Europe.  393 

witnessed  a  remarkable  scene  of  the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit 
of  God,  and  he  will  never  forget  the  cordial  welcome 
which  he  received  in  Monastir  a  few  years  ago.  Though 
it  is  in  the  very  heart  of  the  most  disturbed  district  in  all 
Europe,  though  bandits  from  the  mountains  and  Turkish 
soldiers  quartered  upon  the  people  made  life  miserable  for  the 
inhabitants,  though  our  meetings  had  to  be  held  by  daylight, 
and  all  had  to  be  behind  locked  doors  and  gates  before  dark, 
yet  here  we  found  a  company  of  Endeavorers  that  will  do 
credit  to  any  town  of  the  size  in  England  or  America.  Turk- 
ish rule  forbade  the  girls'  meeting  us  at  the  station;  but,  as  we 
approached  the  school  compound,  we  were  welcomed  by  the 
cchoolgirls  singing  in  good  English, 

"God  bless  you,  God  bless  you; 
God  be  with  you  in  the  coming  days!" 

The  missionaries  of  the  European  Turkey  mission  of  the 
American  Board  have  done  much  for  the  cause  of  Christian 
Endeavor.* 

In  the  Latin  countries  Christian  Endeavor  has 

!n 

Latin  naturally  had  more  obstacles  to  contend  with,  and 

a  slower  growth  than  in  the  Teutonic  lands  where 
Protestantism  prevails.  Nevertheless,  on  the  whole  it  has 
given  a  very  good  account  of  itself.  The  hearty  welcome  ex- 
,  tended  to  Christian  Endeavor  at  the  beginning  by  Mr.  Greig 
of  the  McAU  Mission  has  already  been  described.  Dr.  Mc- 
All  himself  was  no  less  cordial  and  friendly,  though,  when  the 
writer  first  went  to  France,  this  Scotch  apostle  to  the  Gauls 
was  near  the  end  of  his  life's  work,  and  could  do  but  little 
actively  to  show  his   interest.     But  the   Society  has  always 

*  Among  them  should  be  especially  mentioned  Dr.  Bond  and  Miss  Matthews 
and  Miss  Cole  of  Monastir,  Dr.  Marsh  of  Philippopolis,  Miss  Haskell  of  Samokov, 
Dr.  House  and  Mr.  Haskell  and  Mr.  Holway  of  Salonica.  Miss  Ellen  Stone,  the 
well-known  missionary  who  was  captured  by  brigands,  and  her  companion  in 
captivity,   Mrs.   Tsilka,  are   also   active   Endeavorers. 


394 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


flourished  in  the  McAll  Mission.  It  has  also  found  its  way 
into  many  of  the  Reformed  Churches,  and  at  the  end  of  our 
first  quarter-century  France  reports  120  societies. 

Some  of  the  most  interesting  and  useful  societies  in 
France  have  been  in  the  foreign  churches  of  Paris,  the  Ameri- 
can Church  in  the  Rue  de  Berri,  the  Wesleyan  Church  in 
the  Rue  Roquepine,  and  the  students'  meeting  in  the  Latin 


H^^^I^H^^^E^^^^^^IHr' ^ri 

#     ^«-'V.A   ^i)L-i^ 

^H  \     J  'I^^^.^LSHOk^^^.  jT^Ik^'^^R 

^^D       ^^^^^        H^  I^b'^^So^^^^^    ^^^M^T            ^^fcfca  '  -^y  ^ 

^^^^m                           .^^^^^^^^1 

^9^K^^^^i!^& 

^^^^^^^|p '^                  "  "^wW             ^1 

f^^PfcwiflB^^ 

B^i7  ^J 

f}  iB^^^Dmi 

-."^^^R^§*wi 

Spanish   Christian    Endeavorers, 
Dressed  in  the  Costumes  of  Different  Provinces. 

Quarter.  One  of  the  best  illustrations  of  what  a  young  man 
away  from  home  on  a  short  visit  to  a  foreign  city  can  do  is 
furnished  by  the  story  of  Mr.  W.  H.  Lewis,  who  accompanied 
the  Bering  Sea  Arbitration  Commission  to  Paris  some  twelve 
years  ago  as  the  secretary  of  one  of  the  commissioners.  An 
earnest  Endeavorer  in  Washington,  he  was  no  less  an  earnest 
Endeavorer  in  Paris.  He  started  the  society  in  the  American 
Church,  which  has  had  so  long  and  honorable  a  career,  and 
greatly  encouraged  societies  in  other  parts  of  Paris,  so  that 


christian  Endeavor  in  Europe.  395 

before  he  left  it  was  possible  to  hold  a  meeting  of  the  Paris 
Union,  where  the  hymns  and  prayers  and  psalms  in  two  lan- 
guages were  heard  by  the  one  Father  in  heaven.  The  French 
Christian  Endeavor  Union  is  of  but  recent  formation,  and 
Pastor  Van  der  Beken,  the  secretary,  has  proved  wise  and 
efficient  in  his  administration. 

To  show  that  Christian  Endeavor  bears  the  same  fruit  in 
parts  of  the  world  where  it  is  only  just  established  as  in  the 
oldest  Christian  Endeavor  centres,  room  must  be  made  for  the 
story  of  some  little  girls  in  Marseilles  who  belong  to  a  Junior 
society,  and  who  give  up  their  afternoons  to  admirable  sun- 
shine work.  "Two  or  three  of  them  go  together,"  we  are  told, 
"with  a  violin,  a  little  collection  of  good  things  which  their 
mothers  have  helped  them  to  get  together — some  potatoes,  a 
box  of  matches,  candles,  some  bread  and  meat  and  butter,  and 
so  on.  They  sing  hymns  to  each  old  woman  they  call  on,  and 
one  of  them  prays.  If  they  are  very  young  and  timid,  one  of 
them  repeats  the  Lord's  Prayer."  No  wonder  that  the  ac- 
count adds,  "These  little  'district  visitors'  are  very  popular  in 
the  neighborhood." 

Christian  Endeavor  in  Italy  has  not  as  yet  had 
Italy.  ^  ^^^y  vigorous  growth,  though  there  is  much  to 

encourage  it  even  there.  The  beginning  of  the 
work  here,  as  in  Scandinavia,  was  due  largely  to  the  Rev. 
Horace  Dutton,  and  now  the  union  is  fully  equipped  with  the 
Rev.  G.  Cervi  of  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  Church  as  secre- 
tary, the  Rev.  M.  H.  Shaw  of  the  Baptist  Church  as  president, 
and  Dr.  Gray,  the  veteran  Presbyterian  pastor  of  Rome,  as 
treasurer.  "We  thank  God,"  says  Dr.  Gray,  "for  the  societies 
that  exist.  That  which  has  given  us  especial  cause  for  satis- 
faction is  found  in  the  fact  that  all  who  have  made  trial  of 
Christian  Endeavor  have  been  satisfied  with  its  results,  and 
deplore  only  that  they  did  not  know  of  it  sooner." 

In  Rome,  Florence,  Naples,  and  Turin  Endeavor  socie- 


396 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


ties  are  found,  and  a  regular  Christian  Endeavor  department 
is  kept  up  in  the  weekly  Gioventu. 

One  would  expect  in  advance  that  the  sturdy  little  repub- 
lic of  Switzerland  would  prove  a  fruitful  field  for  Christian 
Endeavor,  and  such  is  the  case,  at  least  in  the  limited  section 
of  Switzerland  where  the  Society  has  had  a  chance  to  prove  its 
work.     The  movement  is  as  yet  largely  confined  to  Geneva 


p.-                                                                                  -         -- 

i    ■ 

^^K-'  SHh  ■NPHhj^PVBPv  pt'ji^wMgjjg^^^.-^  ^^^sgjj^^w|Hw  fHri^^^^H 

^Hf  ^ 

Mnm^""""    ^MT^ 

mK^ 

g,r^->  ^ 

muKt^ 

'v' -' -.sIIk^.. 

MjBi; , 

Christian  Endeavor  Society  of  Geneva,  Switzerland.  ^ 

and  the  vicinity,  but  here  is  found  a  vigorous  and  aggressive 
local  union,  which  has  undertaken  to  entertain  the  World's 
Convention  and  the  quarter-century  convention  in  1906.  The 
history  of  this  convention  will  come  into  the  annals  of  the 
next  quarter-century  of  Christian  Endeavor,  to  be  sure;  but 
by  way  of  anticipation  I  may  be  allowed  to  remark,  perhaps, 
that  from  what  I  have  seen  of  the  Geneva  committee  and  their 


christian  Endeavor  in  Europe. 


397 


arrangements  the  convention  promises  to  be  one  of  the  most 
memorable  in  all  the  annals  of  Christian  Endeavor.  Mr. 
Charles  Briquet,  a  young  merchant  of  Geneva,  is  the  secretary 
of  the  union,  and  the  leading  spirit  in  the  work,  and  he  is  ably 
supported  by  many  other  eminent  pastors. 

There  remains  only  the  story  of  Christian  En- 

inthe  deavor  in  the  Iberian  Peninsula.     In  Spain  the  first 

Peninsula.     SOciety  was  formed  in  the  International  Institute  for 

Girls,  then  located  in  San  Sebastian,  a  noble  mission 

school,  which  has  since  been  removed  to  Madrid.     Through 


A  Junior  Christian  Endeavor  Society  in  Spain. 

the  influence  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gulick  and  the  other 
teachers  all  the  girls  who  have  gone  out  from  this  school 
for  many  years  have  gone  out  as  earnest  Christians  and  thor- 
oughly equipped  Endeavorers.     In  their  own  home  towns  to 


398         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

which  they  have  gone  and  in  the  schools  in  which  they  have 
become  teachers  they  have  formed  Endeavor  societies,  and  it 
is  largely  due  to  their  influence  that  many  of  the  fifty-one 
societies  in  Spain  have  been  established.  Miss  Catharine 
Barbour  of  this  mission,  who  was  greatly  beloved  in  her  life 
and  lamented  in  her  death,  was  especially  active  in  introduc- 
ing the  work. 

Other  missions,  however,  have  taken  up  the  work,  and 
the  societies  are  now  found  in  nearly  every  place  where  Prot- 
estant work  is  undertaken.* 

During  the  past  year,  too,  the  Society  has  spread  from 
Spain  to  the  Madeira  Islands  and  the  Balearic  Islands.  The 
Rev.  William  H.  Gulick,  the  beloved  father  of  the  movement 
in  Spain,  writes,  "It  is  the  unanimous  testimony  of  Christian 
observers  that  no  systematized  agency  hitherto  existing  in  our 
congregations  has  at  all  equalled  the  societies  of  Christian  En- 
deavor for  the  discovering  of  talent  and  the  developing  of  the 
same  along  practical  lines  of  evangelistic  work."  Dr.  Gu- 
lick's  efforts  are  heartily  seconded  by  some  of  the  ablest  native 
Spanish  Protestants,  and  in  addition  to  the  admirable  En- 
deavor monthly,  Esfuerzo  Cristiano,  published  in  Madrid, 
the  societies  of  Valencia  issue  a  monthly  bulletin  called  El 
Pequeno  Esfuerzo.  Of  the  half  a  hundred  societies  in  Spain 
twenty  are  Junior  societies  and  seven  are  Mothers'  societies. 
In  this  respect  the  Spanish  Endeavorers,  in  proportion  to 
their  numbers,  lead  the  world.  Their  example,  it  is  hoped, 
will  ere  long  be  followed  by  the  mothers  of  many  other  lands. 
'  The  story  of  Christian  Endeavor  in  Portugal  may  well 
be  a  brief  one,  since  there  are  as  yet  but  two  societies,  one  in 
Lisbon  and  one  in  an  Episcopal  church  near  Oporto.  "We 
are  thankful  to  our  heavenly  Father,"  says  the  Rev.  Diogo 
Cassels,  of  Oporto,  "for  being  able  to  say  that  we  have  a  little 

*  Don  Vincente  Mateu  is  the  president,  and  Don  Carlos  Araujo,  Jr.,  the  sec- 
retary, of  the  Spanish  Union. 


christian  Endeavor  in  Europe. 


399 


company  of  fifty-five  Christian  Endeavorers,  many  of  whom 
attend  regularly  our  choir  practices,  and  take  a  hearty  part  in 
the  church  services.  Not  a  few  help  at  our  cottage  services, 
teach  in  the  Sunday-school,  visit  the  sick,  collect  money  or 
work  for  missions  to  the  heathen."  To  Mr.  J.  Barreto  must 
be  given  the  credit  of  the  introduction  of  Christian  Endeavor 
into  Portugal.     Young,  enthusiastic,  attractive  in  person  and 


Spanish   Junior   Christian   Endeavor    Society   of   Valencia. 

speech,  he  communicated  his  enthusiasm  to  other  young  peo- 
ple in  Lisbon;  and  never  has  the  writer  seen  a  more  joyous 
company  of  young  Christians  than  he  once  met  in  that  beau- 
tiful city.  Soon  afterwards  Mr.  Barreto  went  to  Switzer- 
land to  complete  his  studies.  But  Christian  Endeavor  has 
struck  root  in  Portugal,  and  in  the  years  to  come,  I  believe, 
will  bear  abundant  fruit. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 
CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR  IN  AFRICA. 

FROM  CAIRO  TO  THE  CAPE  IN  CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR, 
AS  WELL  AS  THE  WORK  OF  THE  SOCIETY  IN  THE 
DARKEST   CORNERS   OF  THE   DARK   CONTINENT. 

"  What  the  great  world  of  heathendom  wants  is  not  angels 
in  heaven,  but  men  and  women  with  the  spirit  of  heaven 
down  here  on  earth.  Christian  Endeavor  was  born  into  the 
world  to  help  bring  this  vast  human  need  and  the  divine 
supply  together.  Some  of  the  principles  underlying  this 
movement  fit  very  closely  into  the  problems  that  confront 
us  in  the  Dark  Continent.  Yonder  on  the  shores  of  the 
great  Victoria  Nyanza  we  are  a  little  force  of  seven  mis- 
sionary Endeavorers  in  a  tribe  numbering  a  million  people. 
But  what  are  we  among  so  many?  Seven  against  a  million! 
Can  we  compass  the  need  ?  Nay !  But  we  can  train  a 
force  of  native  workers,  who  in  God's  hand  will  do  the 
work  much  more  quickly  and  effectively  than  we  could  do  it 
ourselves." 

Rev.    Willis   R.   Hotchkiss,   Africa. 

OME  years  ago  a  German  missionary  climbed 
the  Cheops  Pyramid,  that  giant  structure  that 
has  been  an  indestructible  monument  through 
so  many  centuries  of  the  past.  And  what  did 
she  find  engraved  upon  a  stone  on  the  sum- 
mit? C.  E.,  our  well-known  symbol  of  Christian  Endeavor. 
It  is  true  that  old  Egypt  knew  nothing  of  our  movement; 
but  young  Egypt  that  is  just  beginning  to  rise  out  of  the 
sloughs  of  superstition  and  ignorance  of  past  centuries  has 
taken  up  the  subject,  and  had  carved  the  symbol."  So  writes 
a  German  Christian  Endeavorer.     The  author  may  be   al- 

400 


christian  Endeavor  in  Africa. 


401 


402  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

lowed,  perhaps,  to  supplement  this  introduction  to  Christian 
Endeavor  in  Africa  with  some  observations  of  his  own,  writ- 
ten in  Cairo  in  1896,  but  two  years  after  the  first  society  was 
started  there. 

"The  oldest  civilization  in  the  world  and  the  youngest 
Christian  organization  in  the  world  have  met  together.  Egypt 
and  Christian  Endeavor  have  kissed  each  other,  to  adopt  the 
Oriental  imagery  of  this  country. 

"Here  under  the  very  eyes  of  the  'far-seeing  Sphinx'  I 
find  a  Christian  Endeavor  welcome  and  the  Christian  En- 
deavor spirit.  At  last  'forty  centuries  look  down'  on  this 
child  of  less  than  sixteen  winters. 

"The  foster-parent  of  Christian  Endeavor  in  Egypt,  who 
has,  so  to  speak,  acclimatized  the  Society  in  the  land  of  the 
Pharaohs,  is  the  Egyptian  mission  of  the  United  Presbyterian 
Church  of  America.  Some  two  years  ago,  the  first  society 
was  started,  and  now  there  are  three  or  four  societies,  includ- 
ing at  least  one  Junior  society  at  Asyut,  a  long  way  up  the 
Nile,  where  is  one  of  the  chief  stations  of  the  Board.  But 
especially  to  Dr.  White  and  Miss  Thompson  of  the  mission 
should  the  thanks  of  all  Christian  Endeavorers  be  given  for 
introducing  the  Society  and  watching  over  its  interests."* 

From  that  day  to  this  in  the  land  of  the  Pyramids  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  has  made  steady  progress,  and  has  developed 
some  peculiarly  interesting  characteristics. 

For  instance,  there  is  a  society  in  Alexandria  especially 

for  young  men,  which  makes  a  specialty  of  trying  to  win  in  a 

social  way  Syrians  and  Copts,  and  even  Mohamme- 

Work  dans  and  Jews,  inducing  them  to  mingle  with  Prot- 

Egypt.  estants  and  to  study  the  Protestant  religion. 

"Already,"  says  Miss  Grace  Chalmers  Brown, 
who  writes  most  interestingly  of  Christian  Endeavor  in  Egypt, 
"prejudices  have  been  removed,  and  gradually  the  young 
men  learn  the  sweet  and  simple  truths  of  Protestantism.     Al= 

*  From  "  Fellow  Travelers." 


Christian  Endeavor  in  Africa. 


403 


404  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands, 

ready  this  society  has  proved  itself  a  bulwark  to  the  church." 
"The  Endeavor  society  in  the  Cairo  boarding-school  has 
been  influential  in  deepening  the  spiritual  life  among  the 
girls.  The  Egyptian  girls  have  expressive  and  pathetic  faces, 
and  to  see  them  stand,  a  whole  assembly  of  them,  in  a  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  service,  is  one  of  the  beautiful  and  interesting 
sights  of  historic  Egypt.  An  English-speaking  society  in 
Cairo  has  long  been  in  existence,  and  has  been  visited  by  scores 
of  English  and  American  Endeavorers.  But  the  most  strik- 
ing, and  I  might  say  marvellous,  result  of  Christian  En- 
deavor effort  to  be  found  in  Egypt,"  says  Miss  Brown,  "is 
in  the  Bulak  quarter  of  Cairo.  In  this  society  were  seven 
young  girls,  all  most  active  workers  in  Christian  Endeavor. 
They  united  in  praying  for  special  work  among  the  Moham- 
medans, and  the  result  of  months  of  secret  prayer  was  a  great 
revival."  The  society  has  extended  up  the  Nile  as  far  as 
Asyut,  and  is  thoroughly  intrenched  in  the  fruitful  mission 
of  the  United  Presbyterians. 

The  first  Christian  Endeavor  society  in  Welt 
West  Africa  was  established  in  Lagos  in  1897.     It  began 

with  only  five  members,  and  now  has  about  two 
hundred;  and  through  its  influence  other  societies  have  been 
formed  in  the  regions  round  about.  It  has  sometimes  been 
objected  to  this  mission  that  people  in  the  home  land  (Ger- 
many) do  not  understand  the  character  of  the  negroes,  think- 
ing that  they  are  only  two-legged  animals  and  cannot  be  ele- 
vated, and  it  is  useless  to  send  missionaries  to  them.  But  it  is 
interesting  to  see  how  God  has  also  used  our  black  brothers  for 
the  work  of  His  kingdom. 

Lagos  is  a  city  of  ninety  thousand  inhabitants,  with  many 
modern  conveniences,  such  as  electric  light,  the  telegraph 
and  telephone,  railroads,  etc.  At  first  the  Christian  En- 
deavor Society  attracted  but  little  attention,  but  now  its  influ- 
ence is  very  great.     The  pastor  has  found  that  the  members 


Christian  Endeavor  in  Africa, 


405 


of  his  society  are  a  great  help  in  all  the  work  of  the  church. 
The  young  women  of  the  society  go  out  in  little  groups  every 
day  in  the  week  to  visit  in  as  many  of  the  huts  as  they  can  and 
speak  with  all  the  people;  and  not  less  than  two  hundred  per- 
sons have  in  this  way  been  led  to  Christ.  They  have  also 
formed  a  mission  circle  to  raise  money  for  the  work  in  the  in- 


Christian  Endeavor  Society  of  Lagos,  West  Coast  of  Africa. 

terior  of  the  country.  In  New  Calabar  and  in  South  Nigeria 
they  carry  the  gospel  to  the  market-places,  and  speak  of  Jesus 
to  the  people  gathered  there.  Some  of  those  who  formerly 
were  cannibals  have  come  to  believe  in  Christ.  One  Chris- 
tian Endeavorer,  who  worked  at  first  quite  alone,  has  in  this 
way  brought  almost  a  whole  neighborhood  to  receive  the  gos- 


4o6         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

pel.  Two  officials  of  the  European  government  have  also 
joined  in  the  work  and  become  active  members,  and  serve  the 
society  in  many  ways. 

In  Central  Nigeria  one  of  the  chiefs  has  be- 

An  ° 

Endeavor  comc  a  member  of  a  Christian  Endeavor  society, 
and  enjoys  wearing  his  badge.  Through  his  influ- 
ence other  chiefs  have  been  brought  to  Christ,  and  have  built 
for  themselves  and  their  people  a  chapel.  In  Ekiti  a  Chris- 
tian Endeavorer  gathered  together  nearly  three  hundred  of 
the  natives,  and  taught  them  to  read. 

The  following  extract  from  a  letter  written  by  the  secre- 
tary of  the  Old  Calabar  society,  a  native  of  the  Gold  Coast, 
gives  an  interesting  glimpse  of  the  work  of  Christian  En- 
deavor there : 

"After  I  had  been  engaged  five  years  in  the  service  of  the 
government  in  south  Nigeria  I  had  a  furlough  of  three 
months.  I  intended  to  spend  half  the  time  in  Lagos  and  half 
in  my  home  in  Acera;  but  I  changed  my  plans  without  myself 
knowing  why,  and  remained  the  whole  time  in  Lagos.  One 
week  after  my  arrival  there  I  became  acquainted  with  Dr. 
Mojola  Agbebi,  who  invited  me  to  his  house.  Through  fre- 
quent visits  there  and  in  the  Christian  Endeavor  society  I  came 
to  realize  my  great  sinfulness,  and  turned  to  the  Lord  whom 
I  had  forgotten  for  so  many  years.  I  became  a  member  of 
the  Christian  Endeavor  society  and  a  fellow  worker.  This 
visit  in  Lagos  was  greatly  blessed  to  me,  and  I  returned  to  my 
work  with  renewed  health  and  energy,  feeling  as  happy  as 
though  some  one  had  given  me  a  very  costly  present. 

"Dr.  Agbebi  had  given  me  a  Christian  Endeavor  badge, 
and  told  me  always  to  wear  it,  and  to  try  to  start  a  society  in 
Old  Calabar.  I  had  followed  the  first  part  of  his  advice,  for 
my  badge  always  reminded  me  of  the  society  which  had  led 
me  to  Christ." 

Another  native  government  employee  saw  the  badge, 
and  proved  to  be   an   Endeavorer   himself.     The  trio  soon 


Christian  Endeavor  in  Africa.  407 

started  a  society,  which  speedily  flourished,  and  thus  the  work 
started  in  south  Nigeria. 

Many  will  be  surprised  to  learn  that  the  German  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  Union  is  in  copartnership  with  a  church  in 
Kamerun.  Naturally  the  Germans  were  much  interested  in 
the  development  of  Christian  Endeavor  in  their  colonies,  and 
last  year  they  were  rejoiced  to  hear  that  in  one  of  the  native 
churches  in  Kamerun  Christian  Endeavor  had  made  a 
beginning.  It  is  pleasant  to  learn  that  the  Duala  Endeavor- 
ers  are  pushing  the  work  with  great  earnestness  and  enthu- 
siasm, and  they  themselves  bear  all  the  expense  of  the  work, 
for  these  natives  in  Duala  are  self-supporting.  Surely  with 
such  a  beginning  we  shall  expect  to  hear  in  the  coming  years 
of  good  work  and  great  blessings  from  Christian  Endeavor  in 
Kamerun. 
j^  About  fifteen  years  ago  a  missionary  was  trav- 

the  elling  with   a  Christian  negro   up   the   Congo,   in 

Congo.  ,  ,  .     .  •  •         1        1  f 

order  to  plant  a  mission  station   in  the   heart  of 

Africa.  They  settled  in  Luebo,  but  before  the  young  mission- 
ary had  learned  the  language  God  called  him  home.  But 
other  missionaries  pressed  forward  to  take  his  place,  and  to- 
day Luebo  has  a  Christian  community  of  more  than  a  thou- 
sand, and  Ibange,  a  few  miles  away,  has  as  many  more.  Be- 
cause there  were  few  missionaries  they  soon  decided  to  train 
up  helpers  by  means  of  Christian  Endeavor,  and  a  society 
was  formed  with  about  fifty  members.  All  of  these  members 
can  read  and  write  (the  language  was  first  reduced  to  writing 
by  the  missionaries),  and  the  Endeavor  society  in  Ibange  i<5 
still  larger.  All  of  these  young  people  are  evangelists.  They 
go  out  to  the  neighboring  villages,  and  hold  prayer-meetings 
and  schools,  visit  the  sick,  and  in  many  other  ways  sow  the 
good  seed.  Some  of  them  spend  only  part  of  the  day  in  this 
way,  and  others  go  to  distant  villages,  and  are  days  and  weeks 
and  even  months  on  the  way.     The  young  women  under  the 


4o8  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

leadership  of  two  colored  Bible  women  work  chiefly  among 
the  women  and  girls.  And  so  it  has  come  to  pass  that  mission 
work  in  this  region  depends  largely  upon  the  Christian  En- 
deavor societies.  The  committees  of  the  society  are  exactly 
adapted  to  the  needs.  The  meetings  of  the  society  are  "held 
in  the  mission  house,  since  kerosene  is  so  expensive  that  they 
cannot  light  the  church.  They  have  their  song-book  in  the 
Baluda  language,  and  a  short  passage  of  Scripture  and  the 
topic  itself  must  also  be  translated  for  them.     At  the  close  of 


How  Some  Christian  Endeavorers  Travel  in  South  Africa. 

each  meeting  every  member  reports  briefly  on  the  work  he  has 
done. 

One  of  the  large  societies  of  the  world  is  at  Jakusu  near 
the  Stanley  Falls.  It  began  with  six  members,  and  now  there 
are  170  active  members.  The  meetings  of  the  society  are 
so  popular  that  the  bell  which  usually  rings  for  other  church 
services  is  never  necessary  to  call  the  young  people  to  the  En- 


christian  Endeavor  in  Africa.  409 

deavor  meeting.  As  the  hour  of  the  meeting  approaches,  peo- 
ple come  streaming  out  in  all  directions  from  all  over  the 
town;  and  often  there  are  between  three  and  four  hundred 
present.  In  one  year  the  society  contributed  more  than  three 
hundred  marks,  most  of  which  was  given  as  a  contribution  to- 
wards a  new  mission  ship  on  the  Congo.  "Gott  tut  grosse 
Dinge  dort  im  dunkelsten  Afrika,"  truly  says  the  German 
writer  who  sends  the  report  of  this  interesting  work  in  the 
Congo. 

Those  who  are  interested  to  know  how  our  pledge  looks 
in  the  primitive  language  of  the  Congo  Free  State  will  read 
below  a  few  words  of  it: 

"Nandombe  nzambi  bukale  Buandi.    Ankalexe. 
Ndi   ngambila   nzambi   ne.    'Ntu    nasua    kuenza 

MALU  EBI  BIMPE  CENDELELE. 

Nantendelele  nzambi  ku  dituku." 

It  was  in  January,  1896,  that  different  mission- 
Liberia  ^^y  workers  from  several  evangelical  denominations 
banded  themselves  together  to  promote  the  work  of 
the  Christian  Endeavor  Society  in  Liberia,  and  to  unite  the 
already  existing  societies  into  one  union.  The  work  pro- 
p:ressed  well.  But  before  long  it  was  interrupted.  One 
missionary  was  stricken  w^ith  fever.  Death  took  away  an- 
other, and  the  work  was  given  up.  But  the  Lutheran  mission 
took  up  the  movement;  and  it  was  soon  progressing  rapidly 
once  more,  and  is  now  making  good  headway.  Many  of  these 
Liberian  Christian  Endeavorers  go  two  or  three  hours'  jour- 
ney through  the  thick,  dangerous  African  "bush"  to  attend  the 
meetings  each  week. 

In  the  Mpongwe  dialect  the  name  is  translated  "Nkumba 
y'onanga  wi  Kriotyan,"  "the  Society  for  Christian  Earnest- 
ness" or  "Christian  Enthusiasm."     The  pledge  there  requires 


4IO  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

this  addition,  "I  will  read  the  Bible  every  day,  or  get  some  one 
to  read  it  to  me."* 

In  Madeira,  the  "Island  of  Paradise,"  as  it  is  sometimes 
called,  the  first  society  was  started  in   1904.     It  has  several 
Portuguese  members  as  well  as  English-speaking  ones. 
,j,^^  If  Africa  is  the  Dark  Continent,  it  has  a  bright 

Bright  End    end,  whcre  the  Boers  and  British  alike,  though  di- 

of  the  .     '  ,  ,  •   .      1  •  •  , 

Dark  vided  on  so  many  political  questions,  unite  to  spread 

Continent.  ^^^  knowledge  of  Christ  and  His  kingdom  through- 
out all  these  vast  domains.  It  is  in  this  part  of  South  Africa 
that  Christian  Endeavor  has  won  its  largest  victories. 

The  writer's  first  visit  to  South  Africa,  in  1897,  was  made 
under  somewhat  discouraging  auspices.  Sailing  from  India 
on  a  coolie  ship,  he  landed  in  Durban  after  a  long  and  lone- 
some voyage;  for  he  was  the  only  white  passenger  on  the  ship, 
and  the  voyage  dragged  through  more  than  three  weeks  of 
time.  Though  he  found  some  earnest  friends  of  Christian  En- 
deavor, both  in  Durban  and  in  Johannesburg  and  Cape  Town, 
yet  on  the  whole  there  was  little  enthusiasm  for  the  cause.  It 
had  started,  especially  in  Durban,  under  somewhat  unfavor- 
able circumstances;  and  in  some  cases  societies  had  been 
formed  that  were  Christian  Endeavor  in  name  only,  with  no 
pledge  and  with  some  of  the  important  features  eliminated. 
These  naturally  failed  after  a  time,  and  made  it  all  the  more 
difficult  for  new  headway  to  be  gained. 

But  the  ardent  Endeavorers  of  South  Africa  were  not  to 
be  daunted,  and  the  last  ten  years  have  shown  marvellous 
progress.  Very  different  was  the  state  of  things,  in  both 
Natal  and  Cape  Colony,  that  the  writer  found  on  a  second 
visit  in  1904;  and  he  will  not  soon  forget  a  meeting  that  was 

*  The  facts  about  the  Society  in  the  Congo  and  Kamerun,  Lagos,  Nigeria,  and 
Liberia  are  condensed  from  "  Bilder  aus  dem  Jugendbund  in  Aller  Welt,"  the 
excellent  German  history  of  Christian  Endeavor,  by  the  Rev.  F.  Blecher.  The 
work  done  by  the  Endeavorers  of  the  Baptist  mission  in  the  Congo,  and  the  story 
of  the  Endeavour,  the  steamer  which  plies  the  Congo,  and  was  built  by  the  Baptist 
Endeavorers  of  Great  Britain,  are  mentioned  in  another  chapter. 


Christian  Endeavor  in  Africa. 


411 


then  held  in  the  public  hall  of  one  of  the  great  Dutch  churches 
in  Cape  Town ;  for  it  was  the  most  remarkable  example  of  the 
power  of  Christ  to  weld  together  estranged  hearts  in  Chris- 
tian love  that  he  had  ever  seen. 

It  was  soon  after  the  close  of  the  South  Afri- 

A 

Marvellous  can  war.  Feelings  on  both  sides  had  run  high, 
in^*  '"^  and  there  was  naturally  much  political  bitterness. 
Cape  Town,  g^^  ^^  ^.j^j^  meeting  came  Boers  and  Britons  alike. 
The  president  of  the  Dutch  union  was  the  chairman  of  the 


Executive   Committee   of  the   South   American   Christian    Endeavor  Union. 

meeting,  and  presided  most  graciously.  The  president  of  the 
English-speaking  union  gave  the  address  of  welcome. 
Around  the  hall  were  the  Christian  Endeavor  mottoes  in  both 
languages,  English  and  Dutch.  We  repeated  together  the 
twenty-third  Psalm,  some  in  one  language,  and  some  in  the 
other.     In  the  same  way  we  joined  in  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and 


412         christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

at  the  close  all  stood  together  and  sung,  some  in  Dutch  and 
some  in  English, 

''Blest  be  the  tie  that  binds 
Our  hearts  in  Christian  love ;" 

and  with  the  benediction  repeated  in  two  languages  the  happy 
love-feast  adjourned. 

Miss  A.  E.  Bliss,  of  Wellington  Seminary,  a  pioneer  of 
Christian  Endeavor  in  South  Africa,  who  has  done  splendid 
service  for  the  cause  in  South  Africa,  recently  presented  at 
a  rally  of  the  Western  Province  Union  an  interesting  histor- 
ical sketch.  In  this  she  tells  us  that  the  first  white  society 
was  started  in  the  Huguenot  Seminary  in  Wellington  in  1887, 
ias  one  result  of  a  visit  to  the  United  States  by  a  teacher  who 
became  very  much  interested  in  Christian  Endeavor  work  in 
her  brother's  church.  But  the  growth  was  slow  at  first,  and 
we  read  of  but  few  societies  before  1896,  though  one  was 
formed  in  King  William's  Town  in  1890,  one  in  Graaf-Reinet 
in  1892,  and  one  in  Stellenbosch  in  1894. 

That  year  it  was  found,  at  a  Keswick  convention  held  in 
Wellington,  that  seven  societies  were  represented;  and  a 
union  was  formed,  which  grew  to  fifteen  societies  before  the 
end  of  the  year.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Andrew  Murray  was  chosen 
president,  and  Miss  L.  Sprigg,  the  daughter  of  the  eminent 
statesman.  Sir  Gordon  Sprigg,  who  was^^then  the  premier  of 
the  Colony,  was  chosen  secretary.  These  were  indeed  wise 
choices.  Dr.  Murray,  known  the  world  around  as  one  of  the 
saints  of  the  earth,  gained  a  standing  and  recognition  for  the 
Society  which  no  one  else  could  have  gained  for  it.  Ever 
since  that  day  he  has  been  the  honored  and  beloved  president 
of  the  South  African  Union.  Miss  Sprigg  was  energy  itself, 
and  gave  to  the  cause  several  earnest  years  of  service.  Litera- 
ture was  sent  from  America,  and  was  widely  distributed;  and 
Miss   Bliss,  in  speaking  of  the  writer's  first  visit  to  South 


christian  Endeavor  in  Africa. 


413 


Africa,  which  he  feared  was  a  failure,  is  good  enough  to  say 
that  it  contributed  much  to  the  advancement  of  the  cause. 

Mr.  George  Kilbon,  the  son  of  a  missionary  to  the  Zulus, 
was  the  first  travelling  secretary.  When  the  war  broke  out, 
the  work  of  the  societies  was  necessarily  greatly  interrupted, 
and  Mr.  Kilbon  returned  to  America,  as  there  was  but  little 
that  he  could  do  then. 


Seventh  National  South  African  Christian  Endeavor  Convention  at  Durban,   1905. 

But  God  brought  good  out  of  seeming  evil,  and  one 
jy^^  of  the  most  interesting  chapters  of  Christian  En- 

Boer  deavor  history  is  the  story  of  the  Boer  prison  En- 

Prisoners 

and  deavorers  in   St.   Helena,   Ceylon,   Burmuda,   and 

Their  Work.  Poj-^^g^i^  which  wiU  be  found  in  another  place. 

When  these  young  men  came  back  to  South  Africa,  they 
entered  with  enthusiasm  into  Christian  Endeavor  work,  re- 
viving societies  that  the  war  had  broken  up,  and  forming  new 
ones,  while  some  two  hundred  of  them  volunteered  for  mis- 
sionary work,  and  went  to  schools  at  Worcester  and  Welling- 


414         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

ton  to  be  trained  for  special  service.  As  the  result,  in  part, 
of  the  efforts  of  these  former  prisoners,  the  Dutch  Union  grew 
even  faster  than  the  old  South  African  Union,  which  was  de- 
pleted by  the  loss  of  many  Dutch  societies  which  joined  the 
Dutch  Union.  However,  the  cause  of  Christian  Endeavor 
has  been  advanced  by  this  division,  which  at  one  time  seemed 
disastrous  to  the  South  African  Union,  and  in  the  fall  of  1905 
357  societies  were  reported,  of  which  249  were  in  the  Dutch 
Union,  and  the  numbers  vv^ere  constantly  increasing. 

Toward  the  end  of  1904  the  Rev.  Carl  Stackman,  an  en- 
thusiastic Endeavorer  of  Connecticut,  at  the  call  of  the  South 
African  Union  went  out  to  be  their  field  secretary.  He  has 
worked  with  enthusiasm  and  zeal,  and  has  endeared  himself, 
not  only  to  Christian  Endeavorers,  but  to  other  Christian 
workers  of  South  Africa.  The  Rev.  Gerald  Willoughby,  of 
Johannesburg,  formerly  a  pastor  in  Cape  Town,  was  president 
of  the  union  for  two  years,  and  did  not  a  little  by  his  vivacity 
and  untiring  zeal  to  promote  the  cause.  Miss  Sprigg  has 
been  succeeded  by  Miss  Cleghorn  of  the  Episcopal  Church, 
who  is  no  less  efficient  and  untiring  in  her  efforts  for  Chris- 
tian Endeavor.  Indeed,  the  Society  has  been  especially  for- 
tunate in  South  Africa  in  enlisting  noble  men  and  women  in 
its  service. 

Many  names  shpuld  be  mentioned,  but  one  must  on  no 
account  be  overlooked.  Mr.  Polhemus  Lyon,  an  American 
merchant  residing  in  Cape  Town,  has  by  his  generosity  and 
unfailing  interest  tided  the  union  over  more  than  one  financial 
difficulty;  and  by  his  sterling  Christian  character  and  his  wide 
reputation  as  a  prominent  merchant  has  contributed  much  to 
its  advancement  in  all  parts  of  South  Africa.  The  Dutch 
Union,  too,  has  enlisted  the  services  of  the  most  eminent  pas- 
tors in  South  Africa,  such  men  as  the  Rev.  Mr.  Marchand  of 
Cape  Town,  the  Rev.  J.  P.  G.  Meiring,  of  Johannesburg,  and 
others.     There  are  now  unions  in  the  Transvaal,  the  Orange 


christian  Endeavor  in  Africa. 


415 


River  Colony,  Natal,  and  a  Western  Province  Union,  besides 
flourishing  city  unions  in  the  large  towns. 

The  American  missionaries  in 
Natal  co-operate  with  the  English  En- 
deavorers  in  the  Natal  Union,  and  are 
often  heard  at  their  meetings.  Already 
there  are  the  beginning  of  Christian 
Endeavor  among  the  Zulu  churches. 
Among  the  missionaries  who  have 
done  most  for  the  cause,  among  both 
the  white  people  and  the  black,  is  the 
Rev.  Charles  N.  Ransom,  an  Ameri- 
can Endeavor  of  great  spiritual  power, 
who  has  communicated  his  zeal  to 
many  others. 

This  chapter  cannot  better  be 
closed  than  by  quoting  the  words  of 
Dr.  Andrew  Murray  at  one  of  the 
earliest  conventions,  words  which  not 
only  show  his  Christlike  and  consecrated  spirit,  but  strike  the 
key-note  of  Christian  Endeavor  for  Africa  and  every  other 
land. 


Rev.  D.  G.  W.  R.  Marchand, 

President,   Dutch   Reformed 
Church  C.    E.  Union. 


"We  must  remember  that  we  are  saved  that  God  may 
work  through  us ;  what  we  do  depends  on  what  we  are.  Keep 
right  with  God,  and  He  will  use  you.  God  must  have  you 
every  day  and  hour  and  moment  to  be  able  to  make  use  of 
you.  'Moment  by  moment'  in  touch  with  God  is  indispen- 
sable." 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 
CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR  IN  ASIA. 

CHINA,  JAPAN,  AND  INDIA  HAVE  CONTRIBUTED  LARGE- 
LY TO  THE  STORY  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR 
MOVEMENT,  AS  RELATED  IN  THIS  CHAPTER. 

"  India's  conversion  will  have  been  hastened  by  one  gener- 
ation, at  least,  through  the  coming  in  of  Christian  En- 
deavor." 

Rev.    Jacob    Chamberlain,    D.D.,    India. 
"  With   a  century  of   the  vigorous  application   of  Christian 
Endeavor    principles    in    China,    idolatry    will    be    vanquished, 
and  temples  will  give  place  to  churches." 

Rev.  H.   G.   C.  Hallock,   China. 

HRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR  in  Asia  has  greatly 
added  to  the  breadth  and,  if  we  may  say  so,  to  the 
color  of  the  movement.  In  this  great  continent 
is  nearly  half  the  land  surface  of  the  world,  and 
more  than  half  of  the  inhabitants.  Here  are 
Endeavorers  of  every  shade,  from  the  high-caste  Brahman 
with  regular  Aryan  features,  to  the  blackest  coolie  of  India. 
In  these  lands  there  is  more  of  picturesqueness  in  the  En- 
deavor conventions  and  meetings  than  in  all  the  rest  of  the 
world  put  together.  Flaming  banners  covered  with  curious, 
and  to  unaccustomed  eyes  cabalistic,  characters;  weird  songs 
and  chants ;  committees  unheard  of  in  other  parts  of  the  world ; 
and  a  range  of  work  undertaken  which  extends  through  all 
the  Christian  Endeavor  gamut,  from  the  lookout  and  prayer- 
meeting  committees,  to  which  we  are  all  accustomed,  to  the 
"graveyard  committees"  of  India,  and  the  "Junior  finger-nail 
committees"  of  Japan,  are  characteristic  of  Asia  alone. 

416 


Christian  Endeavor  in  Asia. 


417 


27 


Workers  of  Various  Nations. 
Rev.  I.  Inanuma,  Rev.  James  H.   Pettee,  D.D., 

Japan.  Okayama,   Japan. 

Rev.    George  H.    Hubbard, 

Foochow,    China. 
The  Late  Rev.   A.  Miyake,  Osaka,   Rev.    George   W.   Hinman, 
Japan.  _  China. 

Rev.   William   I.   Chamberlaii 
Vellore,  India. 
Rev.  Herbert  Halliwell,  Rev.  Tasuke  Harada, 

India.  Tokyo,   Japan. 


4i8  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

Moreover,  it  is  interesting  to  remember  that  Christian 
Endeavor  found  one  of  its  earliest  homes  in  Asia.  It  flour- 
ished as  if  indigenous  to  the  soil ;  for,  though  transplanted 
from  America,  it  is  by  no  means  a  tender  exotic  in  Asia. 

Whether  the  first  society  outside  of  North  America  was 
formed  in  China  or  Ceylon  or  Honolulu  will  perhaps  never 
be  known  with  accuracy;  for  in  1884,  only  three  years  after 
the  beginning  of  the  Society  in  America,  when  it  was  scarcely 
known  even  there  outside  of  New  England,  little  Christian 
Endeavor  organizations  were  formed  in  all  these  lands.  It 
is  quite  probable  that  the  Junior  society  in  Ceylon  preceded 
the  others  by  a  few  weeks  or  months. 

The  beginning  of  the  work  in  both  China  and  India  has 
been  described  in  other  chapters,  and  the  continent  is  so  vast 
that  I  can  only  sketch  in  outline  the  wonderful  and  unique 
developments  in  the  great  divisions  of  Asia.  These  divisions 
naturally  fall  under  three  heads:  the  Mongolians  of  China 
and  Japan;  the  Hindus  of  India,  with  the  allied  races;  and 
the  people  of  the  Mohammedan  countries  that  lie  nearer 
Europe. 

Perhaps  in  no  country  in  the  world  has  Chris- 
Christian       ^j^n  Endeavor  been  found  to  be  better  adapted  to 

Endeavor  .  .  .  . 

in  China.  the  people  than  in  China.  It  fits  their  racial  char- 
acteristics. The  Chinese  Christians  seem  to  under- 
stand it  intuitively.  Their  training  in  industrial  and  civic 
guilds  has  fitted  them  to  grasp  the  idea  of  the  society  with  a 
compact  organization  and  a  definite  line  of  operations.  For 
a  long  time  the  strength  of  the  movement  in  China  was  largely 
confined  to  Foochow  and  vicinity,  and  even  to-day  it  is 
stronger  there  than  in  any  other  province.  The  father  of  the 
society,  the  Rev.  G.  H.  Hubbard,  who,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, as  a  young  missionary  from  Connecticut  started  the  first 
society  in  Foochow,  is  still  actively  connected  with  the  work, 
having  been  president  of  the  union.     In  this  province  most 


Christian  Endeavor  in  Asia.  419 

happily  the  Church  Missionary  Society  co-operated  with  their 
American  brethren  in  advancing  the  Christian  Endeavor 
cause,  and  now  in  the  missions  of  the  two  boards  are  nearly 
150  societies  of  Christian  Endeavor. 

But  the  Society  has  a  way  of  spreading  when  it  once  gains 
a  foothold.  Like  the  religion  of  the  Master  whom  it  seeks 
to  serve,  it  cannot  long  be  confined  to  any  one  province  or 
country,  and  very  soon  Endeavor  societies  began  to  be  heard  of 
in  the  Presbyterian  mission  of  Canton,*  in  Shanghai,  and  later 
in  North  China. 

Here  it  was  that  Christian  Endeavor  received  its  first 
great  baptism  of  blood  in  1900.  In  the  Boxer  uprising  scores 
of  Endeavor  martyrs,  as  brave  as  any  who  shed  their  blood  in 
the  first  century  or  the  fifteenth,  died  unflinchingly  for  their 
faith.  But  they  did  not  die  in  vain,  for  the  whole  Endeavor 
movement  has  been  quickened  and  made  more  heroic  by  the 
noble  martyrs  of  China.  It  was  the  writer's  great  privilege 
to  be  in  China  just  before  the  Boxer  uprising.  Only  a  few 
Endeavor  ^^Y^  before  the  railway  was  torn  up,  he  journeyed 
Martyrs  from  Peking  to  Pao-ting-fu,  where  one  of  the  most 
Boxer  awful  massacrcs  in  all  those  dreadful  months  of 

carnage  occurred.  Here  he  saw  the  heroic  Pitkin 
and  the  no  less  heroic  ladies,  Miss  Morrill  and  Miss  Gould, 
and  the  martyrs  of  the  Presbyterian  compound,  and  many  of 
the  Christian  Endeavorers  who  in  another  month  had  given 
their  lives  for  their  faith. 

In  Peking  he  saw  all  the  missionaries  and  many  of  the 
native  Christians  who  were  shut  up  for  so  many  months  in 
that  awful  siege,  and  he  will  never  cease  to  thank  God  for  the 
lessons  of  unswerving  Christian  heroism  which  he  there  saw 
exemplified. 

*The  Rev.  A.  A.  Fulton,  D.  D.,  of  this  mission  was  particularly  active  in 
Christian  Endeavor  work  in  the  early  days,  both  in  China  and  during  his  furlough 
in  America,  where  he  effectively  urged  the  "  two-cents-a-week  "  plan  for  missions. 


420 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


In  North  China  the  Rev.  William  S.  Ament,  D.  D.,  one 
of  the  heroes  of  the  siege,  has  been  perhaps  more  than  any 
other  one  the  leader  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  forces, 
though  missionaries  of  almost  every  board  have  co-operated 
heartily  with  him.*     Indeed,  this  is  true  throughout  China, 


A  Zigzag  Bridge  in  China,   Built  to  Confuse  the  Evil   Spirits. 

where  all  the  missionary  organizations  are  represented  in  the 
Christian  Endeavor  movement,  except  the  Methodist  Episco- 
palians of  the  United  States,  who  have  formed  Epworth 
Leagues  and  changed  the  name  of  their  former  Endeavor 
societies. 

*  Among  the  many  who  have  been  especially  helpful  to  the  Christian  Endeavor 
cause  in  China  should  be  mentioned  Miss  Emily  Hartwell  of  Foochow,  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Fitch  and  Miss  Mary  Posey  of  Shanghai,  Prof.  Martin  of  the  Church  Mission 
College  of  Foochow.  Scores  of  other  names  are  honorably  recorded  in  the  records 
of  Chinese  Christian  Endeavor. 


christian  Endeavor  in  Asia.  421 

Though  the  China  Christian  Endeavor  Union  has  ex- 
isted for  some  years,  no  general  secretary  to  give  his  whole 
time  to  the  work  was  appointed  until  1902,  when  the  Rev. 
George  W.  Hinman  of  Foochow  was  chosen  by  the  Union 
to  this  position  and  his  support  was  guaranteed  by  the  United 
Society  in  America.  For  more  than  two  years  he  labored 
untiringly  and  with  great  good  judgment,  as  did  his  devoted 
wife,  in  extending  the  cause  throughout  the  Celestial  Em- 
pire. 

The  account  of  his  trip  to  central  China  among  the  missions 
of  the  China  Inland  Mission  is  unusually  picturesque. 
"Especially  in  the  rarely  visited  interior,"  he  says,  "the  pre- 
sentation of  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  has  awakened 
the  interest  of  the  missionaries  and  native  Christians  in  a  way 
that  is  indeed  inspiring.  Everywhere  the  name  of  Christian 
Endeavor  has  been  a  guaranty  of  welcome  and  a  rallying-note 
for  enthusiasm."  Some  extracts  from  the  story  of  his  visit 
on  this  journey  to  Chen-cheo  are  of  interest,  not  only  as  it  tells 
of  Christian  Endeavor  activity,  but  as  it  describes  some  of 
the  little-known  customs  of  the  interior. 

Secretary  "A  day's  joumey  from   Cheo-kia-keo   in   the 

PktuSque  springless  two-wheeled  native  cart,  through  ripen- 
story  of  ing  harvest-fields  of  wheat,  small  millet,  buckwheat, 
Travel.  castor-oil  beans,  sweet  potatoes,  peanuts,  cotton,  and 
sugar-cane,  and  we  come  in  sight  of  the  walls  of  Chen-cheo, 
famous  as  the  city  to  which  Confucius  was  once  refused  en- 
trance. For  this  reason  the  magnificent  Confucian  temple  is 
located  outside  the  city  wall  instead  of,  as  usual,  in  the  finest 
location  inside. 

"We  were  treated  much  better  than  Confucius,  for  a 
little  company  of  Endeavorers  came  out  nearly  two  miles  to 
meet  us,  and  welcomed  us  enthusiastically  with  greetings  of 
'Peace'  and  the  waving  of  willow  branches.  But  their  wel- 
come did  not  stop  there,  for  in  the  absence  of  the  lady  mis- 
sionaries of  this  station  the  Endeavorers  had  prepared  every- 


422 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


thing  for  our  entertainment  in  the  mission  house,  and  fur- 
nished all  the  supplies  necessary,  even  to  the  coal  for  cooking 
our  meals.  They  meant  to  indicate  the  heartiness  of  their  wel- 
come, I  imagine,  by  the  thickness  of  the  frosting  they  put  on 
the  cake  prepared  for  us.  It  went  ahead  of  anything  I  had 
seen  before." 

"Among  the  exercises  [at  the  public  meeting]  was  one 
which  might  be  called  'illustrated  parables,'  though  many 
other  incidents  in  Christ's  life  besides  the  parables  were  sug- 


The  White  Pagoda  in  Foochow. 

gested  and  explained.  A  little  girl  came  in  with  a  Chinese 
broom  and  paper  lantern,  and  began  anxiously  searching  for 
the  lost  coin,  while  an  older  member  explained  the  meaning 
to  the  audience.  Then  followed  a  boy  with  five  pieces  of 
Chinese  bread  and  two  paper  fishes;  a  little  girl  with  two  big 
cash  to  put  in  the  treasury;  a  boy  with  a  little  lamb  over  his 
shoulder;  a  sower  with  a  bag  of  wheat,  which  he  sprinkled 
out  over  the  audience;  a  little  girl  with  a  large  glass  'pearl'; 
and  a  boy  who  held  up  a  cotton  serpent  on  a  little  cross.     Each 


christian  Endeavor  in  Asia. 


423 


of  these  was  explained  by  a  different  one  of  the  older  mem- 
bers, and  the  whole  arrangement  and  management  of  the  pro- 
gramme reflected  great  credit  on  the  young  president  of  the 
Endeavor  society." 

"Our  food  at  this  and  many  other  places  along  the  route 
was  supplied  from  the  menu  of  the  inns,  and  generally  con- 
sisted of  strips  of  dough  boiled  in  a  sort  of  oily  pork  gravy, 
with  scrambled  eggs  and  unleavened  steamed  bread.  Not 
bad  at  all  when  you  could  get  persimmons  to  go  with  it,  and 


Japanese  Endeavorers  at  Osaka. 

tea  which  was  not  made  of  willow  leaves.  The  cost  of  our 
entertainment  you  may  judge  from  the  following  items: 
Sleeping  accommodations  for  each  person,  three  cents  a  night; 
eggs,  cooked,  three-sixteenths  of  a  cent  apiece;  persimmons, 
one-sixteenth  of  a  cent  apiece." 

"The  society  at  Shi-ki-tien  is  interesting  on  account  of 
some  novel  committees.     There  are  the  'pure-body  commit- 


424  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

tee,'  in  the  place  of  the  common  temperance  committee,  which 
opposes  all  kinds  of  impurity;  the  'heavenly-foot  committee,' 
which  advocates  the  unbound  foot;  and  also  the  'heavenly- 
union  committee,'  which  in  the  Chinese  way  advises  and 
helps  to  arrange  marriages  of  the  Christians  with  other  Chris- 
tians rather  than  with  heathen." 

At  the  end  of  our  first  quarter-century  there  are  about 
four  hundred  societies  in  China,  but  the  number  is  growing 
so  rapidly  that  these  and  other  statistics  from  missionary  lands 
will  be  but  "ancient  history,"  and  inaccurate  ancient  history  at 
that,  before  this  book  is  published. 

In  Japan,  as  well  as  in  China  and  India,  Chris- 
Society  tian  Endeavor  has  enlisted  in  its  active  interest  some 
'"  of  the  most  eminent  of  the  missionaries  and  Tapa- 

Japan.  -'     ^ 

nese  Christians  alike.  Dr.  James  H.  Pettee,  well 
known  as  a  writer  and  poet,  and  with  more  than  twenty-five 
years  of  missionary  experience  in  Japan  to  his  credit,  has 
from  the  start  been  the  leader  among  the  missionary  forces  in 
Christian  Endeavor,  and  is  to-day  the  treasurer  of  the  United 
Society  in  Japan,  giving  much  time  and  thought  and  execu- 
tive ability  to  the  promotion  of  the  cause.  The  Rev.  Tasuke 
Harada,  one  of  the  most  eminent  Japanese  ministers,  has  been 
from  the  beginning  the  president  of  the  union,  and  another 
Japanese  minister  is  the  travelling  secretary,  giving  all  his 
time  to  promoting  the  work. 

Though  the  Society  has  not  seemed  to  meet  the  needs  of 
the  Japanese  Christians  so  strikingly  or  universally  as  it  meets 
the  needs  of  the  Chinese,  yet  the  movement  is  on  a  most  sub- 
stantial basis,  and  is  growing  stronger  year  by  year.  At  this 
writing  there  are  140  societies,  and  the  conventions  are  vigor- 
ous, enthusiastic,  and  uplifting  gatherings.  Even  war  with 
all  its  distractions  did  not  interrupt  the  genuine  progress  of 
the  movement,  and  the  last  of  the  thirteen  annual  conventions, 
but  the  first  one  to  be  held  outside  of  Japan's  four  great  cen- 


Christian  Endeavor  in  Asia. 


425 


tral  cities,  Kobe,  Osaka,  Kyoto,  and  Tokyo,  was  the  best  of  the 
thirteen.  It  was  held  in  Okayama,  Dr.  Pettee's  home  city, 
and  was  bright  with  banners  and  vibrant  with  spiritual  energy. 
At  this  meeting  it  was  decided  to  engage  in  special  work  in 
behalf  of  Christian  soldiers  and  their  families,  and 
Interesting    ^q    Dush    Sunday-school  work   more   energetically, 

Features  ...  . 

In  Japan.       thus  showing  that  Christian  Endeavor  in  Japan  does 
not  live  for  itself  alone,  but  for  the  spread  of  the 
kingdom  of  Christ  through  every  agency. 


The  "  Banner  Convention "  of  Christian  Endeavor 
Held   in  Japan   in   1903. 

During  the  war  several  "Warriors'  Families'  Endeavor 
Societies"  were  formed  among  the  families  of  Japanese  sail- 
ors. The  Empress  herself,  we  are  told,  became  interested  in 
the  organization,  and  sent  a  generous  contribution  to  its  treas- 
ury.    The  Endeavorers  of  Japan,  too,  joined  in  the  work  of 


426         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  among  the  troops  in 
Manchuria,  and  two  of  the  three  Japanese  sent  out  to  labor 
among  the  soldiers  were  Christian  Endeavorers. 

How  I  wish  I  could  introduce  all  my  readers  to  a  genu- 
ine Japanese  shimbokukwai,  which  is  usually  held  in  connec- 
tion with  a  Japanese  convention!  This  is  a  sociable  of  a  dis- 
tinctive Japanese  variety,  which  cannot  be  reproduced  in  any 
other  land.  The  gay  costumes  of  the  Japanese  maidens,  their 
bright  eyes,  and  shy,  smiling  faces,  the  picturesque  and  dainty 
lunches,  reproducing  oftentimes  in  various  viands  Fuji- 
yama, or  some  other  noted  spot  in  Japan,  the  quaint  poems, 
half  recited  and  half  sung  in  old  Japanese  styles,  with  extrava- 
gant gestures  and  in  falsetto  tones,  and,  above  all,  the  radiant 
good  fellowship  and  wonderful  courtesy  which  is  such  a 
characteristic  of  the  country,  all  combine  to  make  the  "shim- 
bokukwai" the  most  memorable  social  feature  of  an  Endeavor 
convention  that  I  have  ever  attended. 

To  show,  however,  that  the  Japanese  conventions  have 
their  due  proportion  of  the  devotional  as  well  as  of  the  social 
element,  let  me  take  my  readers  to  the  top  of  a  famous  hill 
behind  the  city  of  Kobe,  where  in  the  spring  of  1900  the 
national  convention  was  held.  Most  of  the  meetings  of  the 
convention  were  held  in  the  churches  of  Kobe,  but  an  early 
morning  prayer-meeting  was  scheduled  for  the  top  of  this 
hill,  to  be  held  in  the  pavilion  of  an  old  Shinto  shrine. 

Very  early  in  the  morning,  almost  before  daylight,  hun- 
dreds of  Endeavorers  might  have  been  seen  making  their  way 
up  this  hill,  under  scores  and  scores  of  beautiful  "torii,"  which 
indicate  the  approach  to  an  old  heathen  temple.  By  the  side 
of  the  path  were  giant  cryptomerias,  their  branches  meeting 
overhead.  At  six  o'clock  all  had  assembled  on  the  top  of 
the  hill,  and  the  meeting  began.  Below  lay  the  great  city 
of  Kobe,  just  awaking  from  its  slumbers,  beyond  lay  the  rip- 
pling waves  of   the  bay  and  of  the  open   Pacific.     At  six 


christian  Endeavor  in  Asia. 


427 


o'clock  the  meeting  began.  The  leader  opened  briefly,  and 
then  gave  the  meeting  into  the  charge  of  the  assem- 
bled Endeavorers.  Beginning  at  one  end  of  the 
long  line,  which  was  facing  the  eastern  sky,  they 
began  to  ofifer  sentences  of  prayer.  One  after  an- 
other followed,  until  nearly  a  score  had  presented 
their  earnest  petitions.  Just  at  this  moment  the  first  beams 
of  the  sun  appeared  over  the  eastern  sea,  and  smote  us  full  in 
the  face,  and  at  that  instant,  without  premeditation,  one  of 


A 

Sunrise 

Consecra= 

tion 

Meeting 

in 

Japan. 


fe'    f 


V^^  *S 


A  Japanese   Women's   Christian   Endcavur   Sueiety. 

the  Endeavorers  began  to  sing  in  Japanese  the  old  familiar 
tune: 

"The  morning  light  is  breaking; 
The  darkness  disappears; 
The  sons  of  earth  are  waking 
To  penitential  tears." 


428  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

No  one  could  have  been  in  that  meeting  without  realiz- 
ing that  in  the  Sunrise  Empire,  as  well  as  in  all  the  rest  of  the 
world,  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  was  rising,  the  morning  light 
was  breaking,  and  the  darkness  fleeing  away. 

To   tell   the   storv'  of   Christian   Endeavor   in 

The 

Great  India  worthily  would  require  a  volume  rather  than 

in  a  portion  of  a  chapter,  and  yet  the  Society  has  only 

India.  begun  to  do  its  work.    All  the  missionaries  believe 

that  its  greatest  triumphs  by  far  are  in  the  future.  In  various 
parts  of  the  Indian  Empire,  fostered  by  missionaries  who  had 
learned  something  of  the  Society^  in  their  home  lands,  socie- 
ties began  to  spring  up  soon  after  the  little  beginning  in  Cey- 
lon in  1884.  But  it  was  not  until  1896,  in  connection  with  a 
visit  of  the  writer  to  India,  that  the  United  Societ}^  for  India, 
Burma,  and  Ceylon  was  organized,  and  systematic  work  for 
Christian  Endeavor  throughout  India  began.  This  was  a 
somewhat  portentous  name  for  a  new  and  struggling  move- 
ment that  had  then  comparatively  few  friends  throughout  the 
vast  empire;  but  the  faith  of  the  missionaries  and  the  native 
Christians  who  formed  the  union  was  by  no  means  small,  and 
they  chose  a  name  which  showed  the  expansiveness  of  their 
hopes,  and  which  has  well  been  justified  by  the  results,  for 
Christian  Endeavor  is  now  found  in  almost  ever\^  part  of 
India,  Burma,  and  Ceylon. 

It  was  not  until  nearly  four  years  later  that  this  Union 
saw  its  w^ay,  with  the  financial  help  of  the  United  Society  of 
America,  to  employ  a  general  secretary  who  should  give  all 
his  time  to  the  cause.  The  Rev.  Franklin  S.  Hatch,  who 
was  then  the  beloved  president  of  the  Massachusetts  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  Union,  was  chosen  for  this  work,  and  spent 
three  fruitful  years  in  India.  He  w^as  especially  successful 
in  commending  the  cause  to  the  missionaries  at  their  summer 
assemblies  and  in  their  own  fields,  and  travelled  from  one  end 
of  India  to  the  other,  visiting  Burma  and  Ceylon,  and  Kash- 


christian  Endeavor  in  Asia. 


429 


w 


<  .s 

<  -o 

H  a; 

33 

H.S 


pq 


pq 


H 


430         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands, 

mir  as  well,  in  the  interests  of  the  cause.  When  asked  what 
original  ways  of  carrying  on  the  meetings  the  Hindu  En- 
deavorers  have,  he  told  about  a  boys'  meeting  he  attended, 
where  after  a  boy  had  spoken  the  leader  would  ask,  "Boys, 
does  he  live  the  way  he  has  been  talking?"  Generally  the 
reply  would  be  a  "Yes"  in  chorus.  Once,  however,  a  boy 
called  out,  "No,  he  told  a  lie  yesterday." 

At  a  large  meeting  of  young  women,  when  the  hour  was 
nearly  up,  and  only  about  three-fourths  of  those  present  had 
taken  part,  the  leader  said,  "All  who  have  not  yet  taken  part 
may  rise."  Twenty-five  or  thirty  rose.  "When  you  have 
taken  part  you  may  sit  down,"  said  the  leader,  who  was  an 
Indian  girl.     Every  one  took  part  in  that  meeting. 

Here  is  a  strictly  literal  translation  of  the  first  part  of  the 
usual  pledge,  put  back  again  into  English  from  a  Hindu 
translation. 

CHRISTIAN   ENDEAVOR  OF  SOCIETY  CONFESSION. 

"Lord  Jesus  Christ  on  power  for  trusting,  I  promising 
am  that  whatever  He  wishes  that  I  do  I  its  work  of  doing  en- 
deavor will,  that  I  daily  Bible-reading  and  praying  my  life 
of  rule  fix  will.  And  I  my  church  of  every  way  in  helper  re- 
main will,  especially  every  Sunday  and  week  of  middle  serv- 
ice in  present  being  from,  on  this  condition  any  such  cause 
interference  not  be  to  whom  that  I  heart  of  purity  with  my 
Saviour  before  ofifer  not  can,  and  that  as  far  as  I  can  I  full  age 
Christian  life  to  live  endeavor  will." 

Mr.  Hatch  agrees  with  the  other  missionaries 
among  who  havc  Written  concerning  the  matter  that  the 

Ka^rens  music  of  the  Endcavorcrs  in  Burma  is  better  than 
in  any  other  part  of  the  empire,  at  least  according 
to  Western  standards  of  music.  The  Rev.  H.  I.  Marshall, 
an  American  Baptist  missionary  to  Burma,  writes  interest- 
ingly about  a  Christian  Endeavor  convention  of  the  Thara- 
wadi  Karens,  and  especially  of  their  singing. 


christian  Endeavor  in  Asia. 


431 


"The  evening  was  given  up  to  a  concert.  The  Karens 
love  their  hymn-book  next  to  their  Bible.  I  am  not  quite 
sure  but  they  are  more  attached  to  it  than  to  the  Bible.  In 
the  old  days  of  the  Burman  rule  they  were  forbidden  to  meet 
for  worship.  But  under  cover  of  the  darkness  they  would 
gather  in  the  thick  jungle,  and  read  the  Bible  and  pray.  If 
they  sang  then,  they  were  sure  to  betray  themselves.  That 
was  the  greatest  hardship  they  had  to  endure.  Many  a  time 
did  the  muffled  songs  betray  them  to  their  persecutors.     But 


nm--^^ 


Street  Scene  in  Calcutta. 


this  evening  they  have  no  such  fear.  They  can  swell  the  good 
old  songs  that  we  have  all  known  as  I  never  knew  a  congrega- 
tion at  home  to  do." 

Mr.  Hatch  tells  an  amusing  story  of  the  struggles  of  the 
little  boys  of  India  to  learn  proper  business  methods  of  con- 
ducting their  societies.  "How  shall  we  elect  oflicers?"  asked 
the  Juniors  of  a  large  society  in  the  famous  Lone  Star  Mis- 


432  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

sion  of  the  Baptists.  "Suppose  you  ask  them  to  choose  a  nom- 
inating committee,"  Mr.  Hatch  replied,  "for  I  like  to  see  the 
boys  and  girls  do  their  own  organizing."  They  did  so. 
"One  boy  made  an  enthusiastic  speech.  I  could  see  it  was 
enthusiastic,  though  I  could  not  understand  a  word  of  it.  He 
ended  his  brief  plea  by  nominating  himself/' 

In  1904  the  Rev.  Herbert  Halliwell,  a  Baptist 
cIiHstlan  pastor  of  England,  succeeded  Mr.  Hatch  in  the 
Endeavor      travelling  secretaryship,  as  the  commission  of  the 

Secretary.  °  j         r  i 

first  secretary  was  for  only  three  years,  and  other 
duties  had  compelled  Mr.  Hatch  to  return  to  America.  Al- 
ready Mr.  Halliwell,  as  associate  general  secretary,  has  made 
a  large  place  for  himself  in  the  hearts  of  India  Endeavorers, 
and  promises  to  have  a  long  and  most  useful  life  in  India. 
He  had  already  had  experience  in  Africa  as  a  missionary, 
which  will  prove  most  valuable  to  him.  The  Christian  En- 
deavor central  office  has  been  removed  from  Calcutta,  where 
it  was  first  established,  to  Allahabad.  "My  bungalow,"  he 
says,  "faces  the  Jumna  River;  across  the  river  can  be  seen 
a  few  scattered  houses  and  a  temple,  whilst  a  few  yards  east 
of  my  gates  stands  another  temple;  and  a  couple  of  hundred 
yards  north  yet  another  heathen  temple.  If  I  take  a  walk 
of  less  than  two  miles  along  the  river-bank,  I  come  to  the 
confluence  of  the  Ganges  and  the  Jumna,  deemed  to  be  one 
of  the  most  sacred  spots  in  all  India,  where  many,  many  thou- 
sands of  pilgrims  assemble  yearly  to  wash  away  their  sins. 
Comrades,  what  do  these  facts  mean  to  you  and  me?  How 
do  we  contemplate  intrenched,  fortified,  militant,  defiant 
heathenism?  Here  is  Satan's  stronghold.  Arc  we  prepared 
to  do  our  share  in  overthrowing  the  kingdom  of  darkness 
under  the  guidance  of  King  Immanuel?"  Surely  Christian 
Endeavor  has  come  to  India  to  answer  this  pregnant  question. 
Mr.  Halliwell  records  the  names  of  three  new  committees 
of  which  he  heard  at  a  recent  convention  in  the  Punjab ;  first, 


Christian  Endeavor  in  Asia. 


433 


a  "stirring-up  committee"  (a  specialized  form  of  lookout  com- 
mittee) ;  second,  a  ''graveyard  committee,"  to  look  after  Chris- 
tian cemeteries  and  provide  Christian  burial;  and  third,  the 
"peace-making  committee,"  whose  name  carries  its  own  mean- 
ing. 

To  mention  the  names  of  all  the  missionaries  in  India 
who  have  done  especially  helpful  work  for  Christian  En- 
deavor would  be  to  record  many  of  the  most  prominent  of 
them  all.     The  Arcot  mission  of  the  Reformed  Church  of 


Some  Endeavor  Leaders  in  India. 

America  first  of  all  gave  its  hearty  adherence  to  the  Christian 
Endeavor  movement,  and  all  its  missionaries  have  been  espe- 
cially active  in  promoting  the  cause.  Dr.  Jacob  Chamber- 
lain, the  veteran  missionary  and  distinguished  author,  has 
often  spoken  for  the  Society  both  in  America  and  in  England. 
One  of  his  sons,  the  Rev.  William  I.  Chamberlain,  has  just 
been  succeeded  by  Rev.  William  Carey  as  president  of  the 

28 


434  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

India  Union;  and  another  son,  the  Rev.  L.  B.  Chamberlain, 
has  been  the  honorary  general  secretary. 

Madura  has  lone  been  another  centre  of  Chris- 
Madura  tian  Endeavor  influence.  Nowhere  in  the  world 
Marathi  are  morc  enthusiastic  or  picturesque  conventions 
Missions.  j^^j^  ^j^^j^  those  in  this  city,  where  is  found  the 
largest  heathen  temple  in  all  the  world.  Dr.  J.  P.  Jones,  the 
Rev.  John  Chandler,  and  others  have  long  been  prominent 
in  this  work.  Of  late  years  the  Marathi  mission  of  the  Ameri- 
can Board  has  also  been  one  of  the  chief  centres  of  Christian 
Endeavor  in  India.  In  Ahmednagar  is  the  second  largest 
society  in  the  world,  with  more  than  six  hundred  members, 
so  large,  indeed,  that  it  has  to  meet  in  nine  sections,  and  is  sur- 
passed only  by  Dr.  Russell  H.  Conwell's  famous  fourteen  in 
'the  Baptist  Temple.  The  eminent  Dr.  Robert  A.  Hume  of 
this  mission  has  been  president  of  the  union,  while  his  brother, 
the  Rev.  E.  S.  Hume,  and  many  other  missionaries  of  this 
Board  have  been  active  in  the  work.  The  same  can  be  said 
of  the  Lodiana  mission  of  the  American  Presbyterians,  which 
has  given  Mr.  Bandy  and  Mr.  McGaw,  Dr.  Ewing  and  other 
leaders,  to  the  work.  The  Baptists,  too,  in  the  Bengal  mis- 
sion, and  in  Burma,  and  in  the  Telugu  mission  have  been  pio- 
neers and  leaders  in  their  respective  districts.  No  more  effi- 
cient editor  for  a  Christian  Endeavor  publication  is  found 
anywhere  than  the  Rev.  William  Carey  of  Barisal,  the  editor 
of  Indian  Christian  Endeavour  and  the  newly  elected  presi- 
dent of  the  Union,  while  the  Rev.  Herbert  Anderson,  of  Cal- 
cutta, another  member  of  this  mission,  has  recently  closed  a 
successful  term  of  office  as  the  beloved  president  of  the  India 
Union.  The  Disciples  of  Christ  have  been  particularly  active 
in  the  Central  Provinces.  In  the  United  Society  are  now  en- 
rolled, as  we  close  our  twenty-fifth  year,  613  Endeavor  socie- 
ties, while  doubtless  there  are  others  not  yet  recorded;  and 
the  future  is  bright  with  promise. 


christian  Endeavor  in  Asia. 


435 


In  When  we  come  to  the  Mohammedan  countries, 

meda™'  though  there  are  far  more  discouragements  and 
Countries,  difficulties,  yet  we  find  an  equally  earnest  and  de- 
voted band  of  Christian  Endeavorers.  It  is  impossible  to  ob- 
tain exact  statistics  from  Turkey,  for  in  some  sections  of  that 
country  no  societies  are  allowed  by  law.  But  they  have 
plenty  of  Christian  Endeavor,  even  if  they  have  to  spell  it 
with  a  small  e.  In  Harpoot  and  Mardin,  in  Marash  and  Ce- 
sarea,  in  Smyrna  and  Constantinople,  in  Erzerum  and  Van 


Girls'  Christian   Endeavor   Society  in   Marsovan,   Turkey. 


and  other  places,  are  earnest  companies  of  Christian 
Endeavorers.  They  show  their  faith  by  their  works,  too, 
in  Turkey  as  well  as  elsewhere;  for  we  read  of  many  such 
instances  as  this:  "In  Marash  the  members  of  the  society 
in  the  First  Church  saved  enough  money  among  them- 
selves to  send  a  blind  member  to  Oorfa,  to  be  taught  there  to 
read  and  other  useful  things,  and  then  come  back  to  teach 
other  blind  children,  as  up  to  the  present  nothing  has  been 


436  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

done  for  such  unfortunates.     They  also  intend  to  print  some 
books  in  Turkish  for  the  use  of  the  blind." 

I  have  already  spoken  of  the  encouraging  work  in  Persia, 
in  one  district  of  which  alone  (Urumia)  are  found  more  than 
fifty  Christian  Endeavor  societies. 

In  Syria  are  recorded  seventeen  Endeavor  so- 
Syria  cicties,  some  of  the  most  active  being  found  in  con- 

^"f  ..  nection  with  the  Presbyterian  mission  at  Beirut. 
In  Palestine,  distinctively,  are  two  or  three  socie- 
ties. Miss  M.  Jennie  Street  in  writing  interestingly  of  them 
says:  "Above  all,  they  learn  first  to  show  piety  at  home. 
When  one  girl  was  ill  of  typhoid  fever,  she  was  wondrously 
patient  and  gentle;  and  always  her  Endeavor  visitors  were 
greeted  with  the  eager  request,  'Please  read  to  me  from  the 
Bible.'  Another  of  the  Endeavorers  who  was  called  to  the 
home  on  high,  being  dead,  yet  speaketh;  and  through  her 
gentle  influence  her  brother,  who  was  formerly  rough  and 
reckless,  has  lately  confessed  himself  on  the  Lord's  side." 
Here  is  the  way  the  familiar  hymn  of  Miss  Havergal's,  "Take 
my  life,"  etc..  looks  in  the  Syriac  when  put  into  English 
letters. 

"Ihfath  Hyatee  leeyakoon, 

Takreesha  ya   Rabbu   lak; 
Wahfath  zamanee  shakeeran 

Feehe  dawaman  amalak." 

As  I  close  this  chapter,  which  has  already  exceeded  the 
intended  limits,  I  remember  that  I  have  not  spoken  of  the  in- 
teresting beginnings  of  Christian  Endeavor  in  the  Nestorian 
Church  of  Persia,  or  of  the  work  in  Siam  and  the  Laos  coun- 
tries, of  which  I  have  had  no  recent  record,  though  admirable 
work  has  been  done,  especially  among  the  Laos  people.  In 
other  parts  of  this  vast  continent,  too,  are  the  beginnings  of 
Christian  Endeavor,  which  the  historian  of  the  next  quarter- 


christian  Endeavor  in  Asia»  437 

century  will  record,  no  doubt,  with  still  more  earnest  thanks- 
giving and  praise  to  Him  who  during  the  first  twenty  years 
of  its  existence  in  Asia  has  accomplished  through  Christian 
Endeavor  so  much  more  than  its  most  ardent  friends  at  the 
beginning  could  have  dared  to  hope  for  or  expect. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR    IN    THE    ISLAND 

WORLD. 

WHAT  GOD  HATH  WROUGHT  IN  THE  GREAT  ISLAND 
CONTINENT  OF  AUSTRALIA,  IN  BEAUTIFUL  NEW  ZEA- 
LAND, AND  IN  THE  ISLANDS  OF  THE  ATLANTIC  AS 
WELL  AS  OF  THE  PACIFIC,  IS  TOLD  IN  THE  FOLLOW- 
ING PAGES. 

"  Christian  Endeavor  of  the  best  type  means  church 
prosperity." 

Rev.    James    Blaikie,    Hobart,    Tasmania. 

"  The  estabh'shment  of  societies  of  Christian  Endeavor  has 
proved  to  be  of  untold  value  to  the  church,  and  there  are 
possibilities  yet  untried  in  the  movement  for  the  culture  of 
the  immature  and  undeveloped  faith  and  character  of  the 
Christian   in  struggling  and   isolated   communities." 

Rev.   J.    E.   Neivell,   Samoa. 

|N  island,  after  all,  is  but  an  indefinite  geograph- 
ical expression.  The  continents  are  big  islands. 
Some  of  the  islands  are  small  continents.  But 
for  convenience  in  this  history  are  grouped  to- 
gether all  lands  that  are  not  included  in  the 
mainland  of  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  and  America.  Australia, 
to  be  sure,  is  nearly  as  large  as  the  continent  of  Europe,  but 
for  the  purposes  of  this  history  it  is  placed  in  the  "island 
world,"  and  because  of  its  size  and  importance  and  advance- 
ment in  Christian  Endeavor  deserves  the  first  place. 

The  introduction  of  the  Society  into  Australia,  some  of 
her  great  conventions,  and  her  admirable  publications  have 
already  been  described.     It  remains  to  be  told  briefly  how 

438 


christian  Endeavor  in  the  Islands.         439 

into  every  one  of  the  great  states  of  the  new  commonwealth 
the  Society  has  quietly  and  unostentatiously,  but  most  suc- 
cessfully, made  its  way.  The  populous  and  wealthy  states 
of  New  South  Wales  and  Victoria,  rivals  in  everything  else, 
have  also  been  generous  rivals  for  the  first  place  in  Christian 
Endeavor,  each  one,  however,  rejoicing  in  the  other's  vic- 
tories and  enlargements.  Just  now  the  centre  of  the  official 
work  of  the  Australasian  Union  is  in  Sydney,  though  Mel- 
bourne has  much  of  the  time  been  the  residence  of  the  presi- 
dent and  the  general  secretary. 

Beautiful  Adelaide,  too,  has  long  been  a  centre  of  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  activity  for  South  Australia,  as  has  Brisbane 
for  the  great  state  of  Queensland. 

For  a  long  time  Western  Australia  was  the: 
In  the  Cinderella    among   the   colonies.     Even   ten   years 

ago  but  little  more  than  nfty  thousand  white  in- 
habitants occupied  this  vast  territory^  clinging  closely  to  the 
settlements  along  the  coast.  But  gold,  the  great  magnet  of 
the  nations,  was  discovered  in  Coolgardie  and  Kalgoorlie, 
four  hundred  miles  from  the  seashore,  and  the  magnet  was 
strong  enough  to  draw  tens  of  thousands  of  people  into  the 
most  inhospitable  wilderness  in  the  world.  Here  in  the 
"Golden  Mile"  is  found  the  richest  piece  of  ground  yet  dis- 
covered in  all  the  world. 

Happily  others  besides  gold-seekers  have  sought  these 
shores,  and  these  wonderful  new  cities  of  "the  Gold  Fields," 
where  less  than  fifteen  years  ago  was  a  howling  desert,  have 
their  Christian  Endeavor  societies  and  their  Christian  En- 
deavor unions.  So  have  the  beautiful  capital  city  of  Perth 
and  the  agricultural  districts  of  the  state  as  well. 

In  Tasmania,  perhaps.  Christian  Endeavor  has  flourished 
less  than  in  the  greater  island;  but  here,  too,  it  has  a  strong- 
hold in  many  of  the  churches,  and  the  last  Australasian  con- 
vention, held  in  the  finely  situated  city  of  Hobart,  "the  revival 


440  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands, 

convention,"  gave  a  new  impetus  to  the  cause  throughout  this 
smiling  and  fertile  island. 

In  New  Zealand  the  cause  was  not  so  fortu- 
nate in  its  beginnings  as  in  its  greater  brother  Aus- 
tralia. Some  societies  were  started  upon  a  basis 
that  did  not  warrant  a  long  life  or  a  very  useful  existence,  be- 
cause the  members  were  afraid  of  the  covenant  pledge  and 
the  stricter  religious  obligations  of  the   Society.     But  these 


In 

New 
Zealand 


King  William   Street,  Adelaide, 
Showing  the  City  Hall  on  the  Right,  Where  the  Convention  Met. 

faults  have  been  largely  remedied,  and  in  Auckland  and 
Wellington  and  Christchurch  and  Dunedin  and  in  other  cen- 
tres of  New  Zealand  are  also  found  vigorous  centres  of  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  activity. 

In  some  respects  Australasian  Endeavor  stands  pre-emi- 
nent.    Nowhere  in  all  the  world  are  the  conventions  sustained 


christian  Endeavor  in  the  Islands,         441 

year  after  year  with  greater  enthusiasm  and  vigor.  Their  in- 
tellectual standards  are  high,  and  their  spiritual  standards  still 
higher,  while  the  eager  responsiveness  of  the  assembled  thou- 
sands is  characteristic  of  the  dash  and  the  vigor  with  which 
young  Australians  enter  every  phase  of  their  life,  whether  in 
business,  amusement,  or  religion. 

Among  the  most  memorable  months  in  his  life  the  writer 
counts  the  four  which,  separated  by  an  interval  of  twelve 
years,  he  spent  in  the  Island  Continent.  On  his  first  visit, 
even  before  the  steamer  dropped  anchor  in  Sydney  harbor,  he 
saw  a  little  steam-launch,  coming  out  to  meet  her,  flying  a  big 
Christian  Endeavor  pennant,  which  was  given  to  him,  and 
which  he  keeps  among  his  treasured  souvenirs ;  and  all  the  way 
along,  as  he  traversed  the  great  stretch  of  two  thousand  miles 
of  coast  from  Sydney  to  Brisbane,  and  back  again  from  Bris- 
bane to  Adelaide,  the  enthusiastic  Endeavorers  welcomed  him 
and  his. 

On  the  second  visit  he  found  Christian  Endeavor  mar- 
vellously advanced  in  numbers,  vigor,  and  efficiency.  That 
the  early  societies  had  not  in  any  measure  lost  their  first 
love  was  shown  at  the  conventions,  which,  though  all  of  them 
were  "extras,"  not  occurring  at  the  regular  time  for  the  an- 
nual gatherings,  but  called  "Dr.  Clark  conventions,"  were 
even  larger  and  more  full  of  spiritual  power  and  human  in- 
terest than  the  first. 

Some  memories  stand  out  with  especial  vivid- 
The  _  ness  in  my  mind;  the  singing,  for  one  thing,  when 

Singing  t     i  i  i  %  i  •  • 

in  i   have  heard   ten   thousand  voices   rmg   out   the 

iT"''      chorus, 

"!'.  "Crown  Him  Lord  of  all;" 

Civic  ... 

Welcome,      the  civic  receptions,  for  another,  when  mayor  and 
councilmen  in  all  parts  of  Australasia  have  wel- 
comed us  at  stations  or  steamer,  and  afterwards  in  their  coun- 
cil-chambers, showing,  as  I  felt,  far  more  than  a  personal  in- 


442 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


terest — a  real  regard  for  the  progress  and  welfare  of  Chris- 
tian Endeavor. 

The  unusual  devotion  of  some  eminent  business  men  as 
well  as  pastors  to  the  cause  has  also  impressed  me,  and  has 
often  urged  me  on  to  new  personal  endeavors  when  I  have 
seen  such  busy  men  as  the  Rev.  F.  E.  Harry,  the  Rev.  George 
T.  Walton,  Mr.  John  B.  Spencer,  Mr.  J.  Neale  Breden,  Mr. 
J.  Neale  Taylor,  and  others,  of  Sydney;  Mr.  W.  G.  Piper,  of 


Some  Leading  Christian   Endeavor   Workers  in  Australia. 

Melbourne;  Mr.  H.  E.  Beany  and  the  Rev.  James  Mur- 
sell,  of  Adelaide;  Mr.  Ferguson,  of  Brisbane;  the  Rev.  Silas 
Mead,  of  Perth;  Mr.  T.  Williams  and  Mr.  J.  B.  Overell,  of 
Hobart,  and  scores  of  others  whom  I  might  mention,  and 
whose  names  it  seems  invidious  not  to  record.  I  have  seen 
Christian  Endeavor  enthusiasm  and  whole-hearted  devotion 
in  other  lands,  but  never  more  wonderfully  manifested  than 
in  Australasia. 


christian  Endeavor  in  the  Islands.         443 

The  Rev.  Egerton  R.  Young,  the  eminent  missionary  to 
the  North  American  Indians,  and  no  less  eminent  as  a  lec- 
turer, writes:  "I  was  greatly  impressed  with  the  splendid 
character  of  Christian  Endeavor  in  Australia.  The  societies 
have  settled  down  to  solid,  permanent  work,  and  more  than 
ever  are  attaining  the  great  object  which  the  founder  had  in 
view  in  its  inception.  The  societies  in  the  southern  world 
are  in  a  healthy  state  from  a  spiritual  standpoint." 
Christian  ^^^  Australian  Endeavorers,  too,  have  not  for- 

Endeavor      gotten  their  Lord's  command  to  preach  the  gospel 
the  to  every  creature,  and  they  have  begun  near  their 

origines.  ^^^  Jerusalem,  by  carrying  the  good  news  to  the 
aborigines  at  their  very  doors.  Nothing  has  ever  impressed 
me  more  with  the  inherent  power  of  the  religion  of  Christ 
to  lift  up  the  lowest  and  the  most  degraded  than  the  society 
that  I  visited  at  La  Perouse,  near  Sydney.  This  is  composed 
wholly  of  "blackfellows,"  so  called,  the  aborigines  of  Aus- 
tralia, who  are  said  to  be  the  lowest  and  most  degraded  peo- 
ple upon  the  face  of  the  earth;  so  low,  indeed,  in  their  native 
wilds,  that  they  often  live  in  what  resemble  nests  made  from 
sticks  and  grass,  rather  than  houses.  Mothers  sometimes  eat 
their  own  children.  Yet  here  in  La  Perouse  is  a  genuine  and 
vigorous  Christian  Endeavor  society,  officered  by  blackfel- 
lows,  and  conducted  by  them  entirely,  under  the  supervision 
of  their  beloved  Christian  Endeavor  missionary.  And  when 
in  the  great  convention  at  Sydney,  at  the  consecration-meet- 
ing, I  saw  a  little  spot  of  black  among  the  white  faces  in  the 
gallery,  and  saw  the  La  Perouse  society  arise  and  repeat  their 
verse,  and  send  down  their  word  of  welcome,  "Mooyang 
Gnilling,"  I  felt  that  there  was  no  Macedonia  in  all  the  world 
which  might  not  be  reached  and  uplifted  if  only  some  one  in 
Christ's  name  would  go  over  and  help. 

Another  happy  feature  of  the  work  in  Australia  is  the 
remarkable  unanimity  of  Christian  people  in  promoting  it. 


444         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

It  has  been  before  related  how  the  great  united  Methodist 
Church,  the  strongest  in  all  Australia,  has  adopted  Christian 
Endeavor  as  its  own  child,  and  has  never  tried  to  drive  it  out 
of  the  church  family  or  supplant  it  with  another. 
Chnstian  j^  some  sections,  too,  the  Church  of  England  takes 
'"   ,    ,.        more  interest  in  the  work  than  in  almost  any  other 

Australia.  -^ 

land,  and  I  have  heard  a  rector  of  this  church  de- 
clare In  public  that  he  liked  the  Society  because  it  was  not 
like  a  safety-match  that  you  could  light  only  upon  its  own 
box,  and  that  the  Christian  Endeavor  banner,  with  the  sig- 
nificant initial  letters  upon  it,  stood  on  church  occasions  for 
Church  of  England,  and  on  special  Christian  Endeavor  occa- 
sions for  Christian  Endeavor,  and  answered  equally  well  for 
both. 

Many  of  the  islands  of  the  southern  seas,  as  well  as  the 
great  Island  Continent  and  its  nearest  neighbors,  have  proved 

a  fruitful  field  for  Christian  Endeavor.  The  Sa- 
[,"  moan  Christian  Endeavor  Union  is  an  established 

Samoa. 

and  forceful  factor.  Here  is  the  title-page  of  the 
first  Samoan  Endeavor  publication: 

O  LE  AU  TAUMAFAI  MO  KERISO 

O  sina  upu  e  faamatalaina  ai  lona  uiga  ma  le  Feagaiga  ua 

osia. 

"mo  KERISO  MA  LANA  EKALESIA." 

Na  faatuina  le  sauniga  o  le  Au  Taumafai  i  Malua  i  le 
aso  e  lo  o  lulai,  1890.  Na  fai  le  filifiliga,  o  le  a  faatasi  ai  le 
Au  Taumafai  mo  Samoa  i  se  Faatasiga,  Me  12,  1904. 

"Ina  o  mai  ia,  se'i  faatasi  atu  i  tatou  ia  leova  i    le  feagaiga  e 
faavavau,  e  le  galo  lava."     (lere  1.  5) 

SAMOA: 

THE  L.  M.  S.  PRINTING  &  BOOKBINDING  ESTABLISHMENT, 

MALUA. 

1904. 


Christian  Endeavor  in  the  Islands.         445 

The  Rev.  J.  E.  Newell,  the  president,  founder,  and  chief 
promoter  of  the  Samoan  Union,  says  that  the  title  given  above 
means  "The  Endeavor  Band  for  Christ;"  underneath  is  the 
universal  rallying-cry,  "For  Christ  and  the  Church,"  while 
the  title-page  bears  this  historic  note :  "The  institution  of  the 
Endeavor  Band  was  inaugurated  at  Malua  on  the  tenth  of 
July,  1890.  The  Samoan  Endeavor  Union  was  constituted  at 
a  large  representative  gathering  on  May  12,  1904."  The 
motto  text  is  from  Jer.  50:5.  Then  the  manual  goes  on  to 
tell  of  the  rise  of  Christian  Endeavor,  and  especially  of  the 
movement  in  the  South  Seas,  Hawaii,  the  Loyalty  Islands, 
New  Caledonia,  the  Caroline  Islands,  Samoa,  the  Tokelau, 
Ellice,  and  Gilbert  Islands. 

The  story  of  the  Society  in  these  multitudinous  islands 
of  the  southern  seas  is  of  peculiar  interest,  and  often  a  note  of 
heroism  and  devotion  to  the  death  is  sounded.  Some  of  the 
Endeavorers  of  the  first  society  in  the  Samoan  Islands  went 
out,  literally  with  their  lives  in  their  hands,  to  preach  the 
gospel  in  the  neighboring  savage  and  cannibal  islands,  and 
never  returned. 

Says  the  Rev.  J.  Hadfield  of  the  work  in  the  Loyalty 
Islands:  "The  Society  develops  reliance,  forethought,  judg- 
ment, and  courage.  It  teaches  how  business  and  other  meet- 
ings should  be  conducted  in  an  orderly  and  profitable  manner. 
It  cultivates  the  faculty  of  effective  public  speaking,  and  opens 
up  a  long  vista  of  new  ideas  in  the  direction  of  representative 
government.  Certainly  no  outside  force  has  come  among 
us  since  the  first  introduction  of  Christianity  sixty  years  ago 
that  promises  such  rich  and  far-reaching  results." 

On  the  Caroline  and  the  Marshall  Islands  are  thirty-four 
Christian  Endeavor  societies.  In  the  latter  a  society  is  found 
in  every  church. 

Out  of  a  total  population  of  6,092  in  the  Loyalty  Islands, 
before  the  end  of  the  first  quarter-century  of  Christian  En- 


446 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


deavor  there  were  found  to  be  1,988  Endeavorers,  who  had 

raised  $8,000  for  missions. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  German   Endeavorers 

have  just  sent  a  missionary  to  the  Caroline  Islands  to  work 
under  the  auspices  of  the  American  Board.  An  in- 
teresting incident  has  just  come  from  Dr.  C.  F. 
Rife,  the  superintendent  of  Christian  Endeavor  in 

these  islands. 


In  the 

Caroline 

Islands. 


Girls'    School,    Kohala,    Hawaii. 


"I  want  to  tell  you  about  one  of  the  members  of  the  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  society  in  Kusaiae.  He  is  a  deaf  mute,  the 
only  one  on  the  island,  and  was  considered  not  very  intelligent 
by  the  natives.  I  demonstrated  that  he  could  hear  certain 
sounds,  and  that  his  intelligence  was  as  much  as  one  could 


Christian  Endeavor  in  the  Islands.         447 

have  who  had  such  limited  opportunities.  About  six  or  seven 
years  ago  I  told  him  by  signs  that  tobacco  was  injurious  for 
him.  He  had  been  a  smoker,  and  forthwith  made  a  sign 
that  he  would  throw  away  the  pipe.  He  has  abstained  from 
its  use  to  this  day.  Some  time  ago  he  joined  the  Christian 
Endeavor  society.  A  few  weeks  ago  I  was  at  the  village 
where  he  lives,  the  chief  village  on  the  island,  and  attended 
their  meeting.  It  was  really  pathetic  to  see  this  young  man 
stand,  after  a  number  had  testified,  and  give  his  testimony. 
True,  no  one  understood  a  'word'  of  what  he  said;  for  the 
sounds  might  be  called  audible  breathing,  but  it  afifected  me 
more  than  any  other.  I  told  the  people  that  they  were  his 
Bible;  for,  although  he  cannot  read  a  word,  he  watches  them. 
He  knows  they  have  espoused  the  cause  of  right,  and  seeks 
their  company." 

The  cosmopolitan  character  of  Christian  Endeavor  in 
Hawaii  and  one  of  the  interesting  meetings  in  Honolulu  have 
already  been  described.  The  recent  growth  there  is  some- 
thing remarkable,  and  is  due  in  part  to  the  way  in  which  the 
Christian  Endeavor  method  adapts  itself  to  the  Hawaiian's 
idea  of  worship.  "The  older  Hawaiians  are  too  apt  to  mo- 
nopolize all  the  time  of  the  meetings,"  we  are  told.  Alas! 
this  fault  is  not  confined  to  Hawaii.  To  circumvent  this  ten- 
dency and  also  to  give  as  many  as  possible  a  chance  to  take 
part  in  each  meeting,  the  native  societies  are  divided  into 
classes.  These  classes  each  contain  from  two  to  ten  or  twelve 
members,  who  file  out  before  the  assembled  society,  and  sing, 
read,  or  repeat  something  either  separately  or  together.  Then 
the  meeting  is  thrown  open  for  individual  efifort.  No  won- 
der the  writer  adds,  "One  rarely  attends  a  dull  meeting  in  the 

native  societies." 
In  the  The   societies    in   the    Philippine    Islands    are 

Tsiands'"^     naturally  of  especial  interest  to  American  Endeav- 

orers.     The  Rev.  Dr.  S.  B.  Rossiter  speaks  of  the 
Society  as  of  "almost  universal  extension."     The  Rev.  Leon- 


448  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

ard  P.  Davidson  of  the  Presbyterian  mission  was  one  of  the 
pioneers  of  the  work  in  these  islands,  and  the  first  Christian 
Endeavor  superintendent  He  was  soon  called,  however,  to 
his  heavenly  home,  after  but  a  few  months  of  work.  In  Cebu 
he  left  a  few  Endeavorers,  however.  The  number  has  grown 
to  hundreds,  we  are  told,  not  only  in  Luzon,  but  in  the  north- 
ern and  southern  Visayan  Islands. 

"On  the  island  of  Cebu,"  says  Mrs.  Elizabeth  W.  Jan- 
sen,"  the  Endeavorers  are  stoned  while  holding  their  open-air 
services  and  in  their  private  devotions.  Their  assailants  are 
incited  by  the  priests  and  protected  by  the  police.  When 
threats  failed  to  make  them  untrue,  bribes  are  tried,  some 
having  refused  as  much  as  five  hundred  dollars  to  renounce 
their  religion.  The  Endeavorers  have  been  compelled  in 
their  poverty  to  buy  land  for  a  cemetery;  burial  having  been 
refused  their  dead  in  a  Roman  Catholic  cemetery."  The 
self-sacrifice  of  these  Cebu  Endeavorers  is  evidently  very 
great.  Already  they  have  built  a  church  at  Campestello,  and 
some  are  holding  meetings  in  the  home  of  a  former  insurgent 
general,  who  is  an  active  member.  Their  efiforts  extend  even 
to  the  bandits  in  the  mountains,  some  of  whom,  there  is  good 
reason  to  believe,  will  soon  renounce  their  freebooting  ways 
and  become  earnest  Endeavorers. 

In  New  Caledonia  the  French  missions  are  established, 
but  here,  too,  are  Endeavor  societies,  and  we  learn  from  Ac- 
tivite  Chretienne  that  the  revival  crusade  has  been  under- 
taken by  the  Endeavorers'  going  from  place  to  place  to  win 
back  backsliders  and  to  arouse  Christians  to  win  the  uncon- 
verted to  Christ.  Nearly  five  hundred  persons  have  been 
reached  in  this  way  in  one  campaign,  and  touching  stories  are 
told  of  the  return  to  the  faith  and  to  Christian  living  of  those 
who  have  been  corrupted  by  the  whites  and  their  civiliza- 
tion (?),  and  of  the  conversion  of  those  who  had  never  before 
accepted  Christ. 


christian  Endeavor  in  the  Islands.         449 

■In  the  great  island  of  Formosa  are  some  Christian  En- 
Formosa  deavor  societies  under  the  care  of  Japanese  Chris- 
Mada2as=  ti^^is ;  and  a  Japanese  army  officer,  who  is  also  a 
car.  captain  in  the  Christian  Endeavor  army,  has  repre- 

sented Formosa  at  a  Japanese  national  convention. 

In  the  still  greater  island  of  Madagascar  before  the 
French  occupation  were  nearly  a  hundred  Christian  Endeavor 
societies.  By  the  change  of  government  and  the  general  in- 
terruption of  missionary  work  owing  to  the  conquest  of  the 
island,  some  of  these  were  broken  up;  but  the  work  has  re- 
covered to  a  degree,  though  recent  statistics  and  reports  are 
wanting. 

When  we  come  to  the  islands  of  the  Atlantic,  we  find  a 
wide  and  fruitful  field  for  Christian  Endeavor.  The  roman- 
tic beginning  in  Jamaica  has  been  followed  by  a  steady  and 
constant  growth,  until  from  the  statistics  latest  at  hand  we 
find  that  there  are  234  societies,  of  which  84  are  Juniors,  with 
more  than  one  thousand  members.  Jamaica  is  the  gem  of  the 
West  Indies,  and  Jamaican  Christian  Endeavor  is  the  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  gem  of  the  Atlantic,  so  ^what  should  be  more 
appropriate  than  that  the  sprightly  little  monthly  representa- 
tive newspaper  of  the  societies  should  be  called  the  Christian 
Endeavour  Gem? 

A  pioneer  of  Christian  Endeavor  in  Jamaica 
Jamaica  is  the  Rcv.  Dr.  Randall,  who  is  also  the  pioneer  of 
fsiands^  the  Disciples  of  Christ  in  Jamaica;  and  his  son, 
of  the_         Mr.  John  E.  Randall,  the  efficient  and  beloved  sec- 

Atlantic.  r     1        T  •  TT    • 

retary  of  the  Jamaican  Union,  has  done  more  for 
the  cause  than  any  other  one.  Giving  up  a  generous  salary 
in  the  civil  service  of  the  island,  he  has  taken  the  united  pas- 
torate of  two  colored  churches  which  are  under  the  care  of 
the  Disciples  of  Christ  of  America;  and  this  gives  him  even 
more  time  than  before  for  his  loved  work  in  Christian  En- 
deavor. 

29 


450 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


Trinidad, 

Cuba, 

Bermuda, 

Barbados, 

Bahama, 

Porto  Rico, 

Iceland. 


Though  Jamaica  is  by  far  the  best-cultivated  field  in  the 

island  world  of  the  Atlantic,  yet  it  is  by  no  means  the  only 

island     where     Christian     Endeavor     is     established.     The 

island  of  Trinidad  is  an  especially  fruitful  field 

for  Christian  Endeavor.     In  many  places  in  Cuba, 

in  Porto  Rico,  in  the  Bahamas  and  the  Bermudas, 

and  in  the  Windward  and  Leeward  Islands,  there 

are  also  societies.     Haiti  and  Newfoundland  each 

have  at  least  two  good  societies  to  their  credit.     In 

Barbados  is  a  good  Endeavor  union  composed  of  flourishing 

societies. 

Even  in  Iceland  the  Society  is  not 
unknown.  One  of  the  most  interesting 
and  memorable  meetings  that  the 
writer  has  ever  attended  was  in  Reik- 
iavik.  It  began  late  in  the  evening; 
but  it  was  still  light  and  no  lamps  were 

P.  ^HHV  needed,  for  one  could  see  to  read  on 

J^^^'  .^^.  those  July  nights  until  midnight  in 
Iceland's  little  capital.  A  large  audi- 
ence came  together,  and  the  speaker 
had  for  his  interpreter  Miss  Olafia 
Yohansdotter,  a  lady  who  had  added  to 
fine  natural  abilities  the  advantages  of 
much  travel  in  England,  on  the  Conti- 
nent, and  in  America.  She  interpreted 
most  fluently  what  I  had  to  say  into 
classical  Icelandic,  the  language  of  the  Sagas  and  the  Eddas. 
The  audience  which  crowded  the  hall  was  attentive  and  sym- 
pathetic, and  at  the  close  a  member  of  the  Icelandic  parlia- 
ment, or  Althing,  a  successor  of  the  old  legislators  of  Thing- 
valla,  a  thousand  years  ago,  arose  and  expressed  his  interest 
and  earnest  hope  that  Christian  Endeavor  might  yet  accom- 
plish much  for  Iceland. 


Miss  Olafia  Yohansdotter,- 
Icelandic  Interpreter. 


christian   Endeavor  in  the  Islands.         451 

The  scattered  farms  throughout  the  island,  and  the  ab- 
sence of  towns  or  even  villages  for  the  most  part,  make  it  im- 
possible for  Christian  Endeavor  to  do  its  work  in  the  usual 
way  throughout  much  of  Iceland;  but  we  already  read  of  one 
society,  and  there  seems  to  be  an  unlimited  field  for  Rural 
Family  Endeavor. 

Though  Great  Britain  really  belongs  to  the  island  world, 
her  Endeavor  societies  have  been  treated  in  another  chapter; 
and  it  is  only  necessary  to  add  that  in  the  Shetland  and  Orkney 
islands,  in  the  Channel  Islands,  Guernsey  and  Jersey,  in 
Minorca  and  Majorca,  in  the  Madeira  Islands  and  the  Azores, 
the  society  has  gained  a  foothold,  and  in  some  of  them  it  is 
an  important  factor  of  the  religious  life. 

We  are  told  in  the  Scriptures  that  the  "isles  shall  wait 
for"  Him.  Surely  it  is  God's  good  pleasure  that  Christian 
Endeavor  in  the  islands  of  the  sea  shall  prepare  the  way  of  the 
Lord  in  the  isles  of  every  sea,  which  so  long  have  been  wait- 
ing for  Him. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

CHRISTIAN     ENDEAVOR    AMONG    THE     BOER 

PRISONERS. 

HOW  GOD  CAUSED  THE  WRATH  OF  MAN  TO  PRAISE 
HIM  BY  DEVELOPING  A  WONDERFUL  MISSIONARY 
MOVEMENT  AMONG  THE  BOER  PRISONERS  WHO 
WERE  DEPORTED  TO  ST.  HELENA,  CEYLON,  THE  BER- 
MUDAS, AND   PORTUGAL    IS   TOLD   IN   THIS    CHAPTER. 

"  The  Christian  Endeavor  Society  has  been,  and  is,  a 
great  developer  of  stalwart  Christians,  pillars  of  the  church, 
consecrated  young  people  who  can  be  depended  on  for  the 
furtherance  of  any  and  all  of  the  varied  activities  of  Chris- 
tian service." 

Hon.    John    H.    Mickey,    Governor   of   Nebraska. 

;NE  of  the  most  romantic  and  interesting  chapters 
in  the  annals  of  the  first  twenty-five  years  of  the 
Christian  Endeavor  Society  is  the  story  of  the 
development  of  the  societies  in  the  Boer  prison 
camps  in  St.  Helena,  Ceylon,  Bermuda,  and 
Portugal.  So  thoroughly  did  the  Society  seem  to  meet  the 
religious  needs  of  these  expatriated  warriors,  so  complete  and 
thorough  was  their  organization  in  spite  of  the  difficulties 
they  had  to  overcome,  and  so  large  results  in  the  way  of  mis- 
sionary activities  and  the  evangelization  of  Africa  have  flowed 
from  their  devoted  Christian  lives  in  the  prison  camps, 
that  the  story  will  always  be  an  incentive  to  heroism  and  re- 
ligious zeal.  I  am  indebted  for  these  facts  largely  to  the 
Rev.  Charles  F.  Mijnhardt,  who  was  the  president  of  the 
Christian  Endeavor  union  among  the  prisoners  on  the  island 
of  St.  Helena,  and  who  obtained  from  his  own  observation 

452 


Among  the  Boer  Prisoners.  453 

there,  and  from  accounts  obtained  from  returned  Boers  in  ttie 
other  camps,  the  details  which  are  here  given. 

The  societies  were  started  even  before  the  prisoners 
reached  St.  Helena,  for  while  they  were  encamped  in  Simons 
Town  near  Cape  Town,  a  society  of  ninety-one  members  had 
been  organized.  But  the  removal  of  the  prisoners  to  the  vari- 
ous islands  compelled  a  reorganization  when  they  reached 
their  destination.  They  met  with  many  difficulties,  since 
many  of  the  Boers  had  known  nothing  of  the  Society  before 
they  reached  the  prison  camp.  Some  thought  the  pledge  was 
too  strict;  others  objected  to  the  singing  of  hymns  which  were 
not  based  on  David's  Psalms,  or  prescribed  by  the  synod  of 
Dordrecht.  So  keen  was  the  party  feeling,  indeed,  that  some 
went  so  far  as  to  aver  that  the  society,  although  having  an 
outward  semblance  of  religion,  really  had  in  view  a  political 
object,  inasmuch  as  it  was  suspected  to  be  the  intention  of  the 
Endeavorers  on  their  return  to  South  Africa  to  choose  from 
their  number  the  president  of  the  Transvaal  and  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Volksraad. 

But  these  strange  misapprehensions  were  soon  removed, 
and  "they  began  to  learn,"  says  Mr.  Mijnhardt,  "that  the 
Christian  Endeavor  Society  was  the  one  form  of  Christian 
service  subject  to  the  church,  that  was  needed  in  South  Africa 
and  in  the  prison  camps  as  well.  We  Endeavorers  thank  God 
for  our  banishment,  because  it  has  brought  us  to  know  the 
value  of  consecrated  Christian  service." 

The 

Societies  For  eight  months  the  St.  Helena  society  had 

St.  Helena.  ^^  ^^^^  ^^^  meetings  in  the  open  air,  often  with  the 
rain  beating  in  the  faces  of  the  worshippers  and  the 
wind  making  it  almost  impossible  to  hear  the  speakers. 
Afterwards  they  managed  to  rig  up  a  "tin  shanty"  composed 
of  biscuit-tins  and  aloe  poles.  Those  who  know  the  aloe  will 
not  recommend  it  for  strength  or  durability.  It  is  really  a 
soft  pulpy  mass,  surrounded  by  a  thin  covering  of  wood;  but 


454  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

it  was  the  only  material  available,  and  many  a  time  this  little 
shanty  rang  with  the  praise  of  God. 

As  more  prisoners  came,  more  societies  were  needed  to 
give  a  chance  for  the  expression  of  the  Christian  life  in  word 
and  deed.  They  had  pledge  cards  printed  at  St.  Helena, 
but  never  seemed  to  have  enough,  the  members  came  so  fast. 
The  first  societies  were  at  the  Deadwood  camp,  and  were 
made  up  of  men  from  the  Transvaal.  But  after  a  time  an- 
other large  camp,  formed  mostly  of  Free  Staters,  was  estab- 
lished at  Broad  Bottom.  Then  they  formed  two  local  unions, 
one  in  each  of  these  two  great  camps,  which  were  about  seven 
miles  apart,  while  a  district  Christian  Endeavor  union  united 
the  two;  and  the  members  visited  each  other  alternately,  once 
in  two  or  three  months,  to  discuss  the  general  business  of  the 
union. 

A  convention  was  once  held  midway  between  the  two 
camps,  though  it  was  very  difficult  to  get  permission  for  the 
large  number  who  wished  to  attend.  But,  in  all,  386  Endeav- 
orers  from  both  camps  attended  this  convention,  and  discussed 
very  much  the  same  topics  as  Endeavorers  in  England  or 
America — missions  and  the  Quiet  Hour,  and  the  relation  of 
Endeavor  to  the  church,  and  what  more  they  could  do  for 
their  unconverted  companions,  and  other  similar  topics. 

In  April,  1900,  the  first  contingent  was  taken  to  St. 
Helena,  and  two  years  later  it  was  found  that  there  were 
eleven  societies  in  the  Deadwood  camp  and  eight  in  Broad 
Bottom,  nineteen  in  all,  with  a  total  membership  of  nearly  a 
thousand.  By  this  time  they  had  managed  to  procure  an  un- 
used cooking-shed,  which,  having  been  properly  patched  up 
and  also  enlarged,  would  hold  about  two  hundred.  This  they 
called  "Excelsior  Hall." 

Many  a  glorious  meeting  they  had  in  it.  The  different 
societies  all  met  there  on  different  evenings  of  the  week,  and 
from  Monday  night  to  Saturday  night  the  hall  was  never 


Among  the  Boer  Prisoners.  455 

empty  between  six  P.  M.  and  nine  P.  M.,  for  one  meeting  was 
scarcely  over  before  another  lot  would  good-naturedly 
squeeze  in,  receiving  a  warm  hand-shake  of  welcome  at  the 
door.  Let  me  here  quote  a  few  of  Mr.  Mijnhardt's  ardent 
words. 

The        ^  "O,  how  we  learned  to  know  and  love  one  an- 

Sorrow'^^'  o^hcr  during  those  years  of  captivity!  Once — it 
at  was  midnight  of   the  old   year — we   Endeavorers 

Separation,  gathered  in  our  hall  for  a  bit  of  prayer  and 
praise.  We  shed  tears,  many  of  us,  but  not  at  the  thought 
of  our  loved  ones'  being  so  far  away  from  us.  No,  we 
thought:  'Alas,  these  glorious  meetings  wil)  one  day  have 
to  come  to  an  end ;  we  shall  have  to  separate^  and  go  out  into 
the  cold  world  to  fight  alone.  Here  we  have  so  much  sweet 
fellowship,  such  concord,  such  unity.' 

"Just  think  of  it;  amidst  all  the  hardships  attendant  on 
the  life  of  a  prisoner  of  war,  amidst  all  that  one  naturally 
misses  and  even  finds  necessary,  we  are  yet  saddened  at  the 
thought  of  having  eventually  to  part  from  one  another.  Such 
is  the  love  of  Christ  shed  abroad  in  the  hearts  of  His  children! 

''Apart  from  our  weekly  meeting,  we  had  a  short  prayer- 
meeting  of  half  an  hour  every  morning  at  6  and  sometimes, 
according  to  changes  in  camp  regulations,  at  6.30. 

"I  am  sure  that  that  early  prayer-meeting  helped  most  of 
all  to  make  our  society  a  blessing.  Those  who  attended  could 
always  be  reckoned  on,  and  were  always  the  most  faithful 
members.  We  had  a  different  subject  to  pray  for  every  day 
of  the  week,  for  example,  Sunday,  the  church;  Monday,  the 
spiritual  life;  Wednesday,  missions;  Thursday,  Christian 
Endeavor  societies,  etc.  We  appointed  a  leader  for  each 
day,  and  many  a  young  convert  there  learned  to  pray  and 
speak  in  public  for  the  first  time.  O,  the  solemnity  of  that 
quiet  half-hour,  as  we  sang  upon  our  knees, 

"  'I  believe  God  answers  prayer; 
I  am  sure  God  answers  prayer; 
I   have  proved  God   answers  prayer, 
Glory  to  His  name!' 


456         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

"We  would  come  forth  strengthened  and  refreshed.  In 
those  meetings  we  often  spoke  of  the  importance  of  the  'Quiet 
Hour,'  and  many  a  one  would  go  back  to  his  hut  or  tent  to 
spend  another  hour  with  God  and  his  Bible  before  commenc- 
ing the  duties  of  the  day." 

We  are  also  told  that  a  "Lending-Hand  Workers'  Ge- 
nootschap"  was  formed,  meaning  a  society  where  different 
kinds  of  articles  were  made  by  the  Endeavorers,  such  as  pen- 
holders, bone  brooches,  boxes,  etc.  These  were  sent  to  the 
colony  and  sold  for  fifty-eight  pounds.  "If,  therefore,  a 
young  man  got  up  in  the  meeting  and  waxed  eloquent  on 
missions,"  we  are  told,  "wishing  he  could  fly  that  he  might  be 
there  at  once,  we  merely  asked  him  to  come  and  prove  his  sin- 
cerity by  lending  a  hand  at  the  turning-lathe  or  by  polishing 
a  piece  of  wood." 

The  Endeavorers  also  erected   a  cafe,  whose 
How  sign-board  bore  this  legend  in  Dutch: 


They 


'CAFE,  RESTAURANT,  AND  STORE 


Raised  '   ^^^^^•^'-^    ni\i, 

Money.  Jn  aid  of  the  suffering  women  and  children 

In  South  Africa." 
Here  they  sold  tea,  coffee,  and  cake  at  a  penny,  such  articles, 
also,  as  cofifee,  sugar,  and  milk,  and  cleared  thirty-five  pounds. 
Through  the  sale  of  envelopes  and  stamps  thirty-seven 
pounds  more  were  raised  for  the  widows'  and  orphans'  fund. 
They  also  conceived  the  idea  of  erecting  an  orphanage  on 
their  return  to  South  Africa,  to  be  called  the  "Christian  En- 
deavor Orphanage  of  Transvaal  and  Orangia."  The  spirit 
of  this  plan  has  been  largely  carried  out  in  the  support  of  an 
existing  orphanage  near  Johannesburg. 

In  the  prison  camps  of  Ceylon  the  same  zeal  and  enthu- 
siasm were  manifested  as  in  St.  Helena.  Here  ten  societies 
were  formed  with  a  membership  of  eight  hundred.  Once  in 
three  months  they  were  allowed  to  have  a  united  meeting, 
when  all  the  societies  met  to  discuss  the  subject  for  that  week. 


Among  the  Boer  Prisonerse  457 

"What  a  wonderful  sight  it  was,"  writes  one  of  the  number, 
"to  see  so  large  a  number  of  zealous  Endeavorers  and  to  hear 
eight  hundred  voices  roaring  out  a  hymn  like  so  many  can- 
non! No  wonder  that  one  felt  like  another  man  after  such 
a  meeting.  Often  I  would  hear  some  one  say:  'How  the  time 
simply  flew!'     'For  my  part  he  could  have  continued  as  long 

again,  and  talked  another  hour.'     'How  beautifully 
Prfsoners      we  worked  together!'  " 
jp   I  Many  of  the  prisoners  in  Ceylon  had  had  but 

few  educational  advantages,  and  great  pains  were 
taken  to  supply  such  deficiencies.  Here,  as  on  St.  Helena, 
bearded  men  thought  it  no  shame  to  attend  school,  learning 
their  texts  as  any  boy  would.  The  literature  committee  of  the 
union  distributed  books,  and  saw  to  it  that  they  were  read; 
and  most  of  the  Endeavorers  were  eager  to  attend  the  day- 
school  and  the  Sunday-school.  In  one  of  the  classes  the  ques- 
tion was  asked,  "Who  discovered  America?"  The  reply 
came  promptly,  "Saul,  sir."  "Let  this  not  be  taken  as  a  stand- 
ard of  our  intelligence,  however,"  writes  one  of  the  prisoners, 
"since  many  English  soldiers,  believed,  as  one  of  them  said  to 
us,  'We  thought  yous  fellows  was  all  black.'  " 

A  boys'  home  was  established  by  the  Endeavorers,  where 
orphans  and  neglected  ones  were  taken  in  and  cared  for.  In 
the  same  hut  the  "Albion  printing-press"  afterwards  turned 
out  a  little  weekly  paper  called  De  Strever  (The  Endeav- 
orer)  and  for  nine  months  it  appeared  regularly.  The  sub- 
scription-price was  ten  cents  a  month,  and  the  editor  was  soon 
able  to  send  the  profits  to  the  women  and  children  in  the  con- 
centration camps. 

Six  of  the  365  islands  of  Bermuda  were  occu- 
Bermuda  pi^^l  by  the  Bocr  prisoners  of  war,  and  each  island 
!L"^,      ,       had  its  Endeavor  society,  with  about  five  hundred 

Portugal.  -^ '  . 

members  in  all,  not  counting  the  children,  of  whom 
more  than  two  hundred  were  organized  into  a  Junior  class. 


4^8  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

Every  evening  family  prayers  were  held  by  the  Endeavorers, 
and  every  morning  there  was  an  early  prayer-meeting. 

A  little  Christian  Endeavor  paper  was  also  published, 
but  the  societies  were  so  scattered  on  different  islands  that  they 
had  no  opportunity  for  a  convention,  which  proved  so  help- 
ful in  other  camps. 

To  Portugal  a  thousand  men  were  taken  from  Delagoa 
Bay,  all  of  whom  when  they  started,  save  about  thirty-five, 
were  sick.  Some  died  on  the  way  to  Portugal,  and  there  were 
comparatively  few  earnest  Christians  among  those  that  reached 
the  prison  camp.  These  commenced  a  prayer-meeting,  which 
was  held  twice  a  week.  Very  soon,  we  are  told,  "God's  Sprit 
began  to  convict  of  sin;  many  turned  from  their  evil  ways; 
and  the  first  night  as  many  as  seventy  gave  themselves  to  God." 
In  the  early  morning  one  could  hear  the  men  earnestly  pray- 
ing among  the  rocks.  An  Endeavor  society  was  formed,  and 
eighty  joined  at  once.  The  society  worked  under  great  diffi- 
culties, for  the  members  had  no  convenient  place  in  which  to 
gather;  so  they  resorted  to  the  rocks.  But  this  gave  them  a 
fine  opportunity  for  personal  work,  and  it  was  quite  usual  to 
see  the  members  of  the  various  societies  conversing  with  the 
unconverted  in  quiet  nooks. 

The  social  committee  did  good  and  effective  work  in  wel- 
coming new  arrivals  or  visitors  from  one  of  the  other  camps. 
Little  more  than  a  month  had  passed  when  the  80  had 
become  183.  This  was  in  the  camp  at  Peniche.  Another  one 
was  at  Caldas  da  Rainha.  Here  there  were  70  young  men 
who  might  be  reached,  and  the  society  began  with  a  member- 
ship of  25,  but  the  Endeavorers  did  not  rest  until  they  had 
captured  64  out  of  the  70.  Some  of  the  members  who  had 
mastered  the  Portuguese  language  preached  Christ  among 
the  inhabitants.  After  a  little  more  than  a  year  the  Boers, 
men,  women,  and  children,  bade  farewell  to  the  shores  of 
Portugal.     Many  of  the  Portuguese  had  become  sincerely  at- 


Among  the  Boer  Prisoners.  459 

tached  to  them,  and  bitter  tears  were  shed.  One  man  brought 
a  Portuguese  lady  with  him,  had  the  bans  published  in  one  of 
the  Dutch  churches  of  Johannesburg  on  reaching  home,  and 
now  is  happily  married.  Some  women  were  transported  to 
this  camp,  together  with  their  fathers  and  brothers;  and  more 
than  one  little  romance  which  happily  ended  can  be  traced 
back  to  the  prison  camps  of  Portugal  and  the  Bahamas. 

But  the  sequel  to  this  story  of  Christian  En- 
Wonderfui  dcavor  in  the  Boer  camp  is  the  most  remarkable  of 
eque .  ^^^^  ^^^  ^^^  ^^^^  their  captivity  to  arouse  a  won- 
derful missionary  spirit  among  them  such  as  had  never  been 
known  in  South  Africa  before.  Missionary  subjects  were 
favorites  in  the  Christian  Endeavor  meetings  in  prison. 
Though  they  had  exceedingly  little  money,  a  tithe,  often  a 
fifth,  of  what  they  earned  by  whittling  out  bone  Christian  En- 
deavor badges  and  other  trinkets  was  set  apart  for  mission- 
ary use. 

In  the  societies  in  Portugal  a  missionary  meeting  was 
held  once  a  month,  and  twelve  declared  themselves  ready  to 
become  missionaries  on  their  return.  In  St.  Helena  60  vol- 
unteered for  missfonary  service  while  in  camp,  and  alto- 
gether 175  young  men  dedicated  themselves  to  the  service  of 
God  as  missionaries  wherever  He  should  send  them. 

The  whole  attitude  of  many  toward  the  natives  was 
changed  during  their  imprisonment.  One  bright  young  fel- 
low said  during  a  meeting,  "I  used  to  try  to  ride  over  the  little 
Kaffir  boys  on  our  farm  with  my  horse,  and  once  I  actually 
did  override  one;  but,  if  ever  I  should  meet  that  little  boy 
again,  I  shall  take  him  with  me  on  the  horse,  and  tell  him  how 
Jesus  loves  him."  "I  unhesitatingly  assert,"  writes  Mr. 
Mijnhardt,  "that  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  among 
our  prisoners  contributed  largely  towards  making  these  men 
realize  their  responsibility  towards  the  heathen.  Missions 
had  with  us  a  most  prominent  place  in  the  society.     Our  sub- 


460         christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands, 

jects  were  often  missionary  subjects;  but,  more  than  that,  we 
began  to  do  something  for  missions." 

Sixteen  young  Kaffir  boys  who  had  been  captured  with 
the  Boers  were  transported  to  St.  Helena.  They  were  taught 
to  read,  and  soon  they  began  to  pray  in  their  own  language  in 
the  meetings.  We  can  well  imagine  that  "it  had  a  tremendous 
meaning  for  the  young  Endeavorer  who  had  not  much  en- 
thusiasm for  missions  to  go  to  those  Kaffirs,  and  read  and  pray 
with  them." 

The  mission-study  classes,  a  missionary  man- 
Their  ual-labor  society,  which  sold  its  products  for  eighty 

Return.  pounds,  the  missionary  books  that  were  read,  and 
the  missionary  collection-box  which  was  often  passed,  all  had 
a  great  influence  in  stimulating  the  missionary  zeal.  On  their 
return  to  South  Africa  these  175  young  men  began  to  fit  them- 
selves by  hard  study  for  missionary  work.  The  missionary 
institute  for  their  training  was  established  at  Worcester,  Cape 
Colony;  and  the  Drostdy,  which  used  to  be  the  residence  of  the 
local  magistrate,  or  Landdrost,  during  the  time  of  the  Dutch 
possession  of  the  colony,  was  purchased  for  ten  thousand 
pounds  by  the  representatives  of  the  Dutch  churches.  The 
missionary  spirit  had  come  to  pervade  all  the  Dutch  churches, 
as  well  as  the  prison  camps,  and  they  gave  most  generously 
for  this  new  institution.  Moreover,  more  than  two  hundred 
promises  were  received  within  a  few  months  to  pay  for  the 
cost  of  the  board,  lodging,  and  schooling  for  one  missionary 
candidate  at  twenty-four  pounds  a  year,  so  that  all  the  175 
Christian  Endeavor  volunteers  among  the  prisoners  were  more 
than  provided  for. 

The  young  men  in  the  institute,  however,  do  not  rely 
upon  the  gifts  of  the  churches  altogether,  but  spend  as  many 
hours  in  manual  labor  each  day  to  support  themselves  as  they 
spend  in  study.  A  number  of  these  will  not  be  able  to  do 
much  in  the  way  of  mental  development,  we  are  told,  being 


Among  the  Boer  Prisoners.  461 

already  too  old,  and  not  having  had  educational  advantages 
when  young.  But  all  can  do  something  for  the  natives  of 
Africa,  and  some  of  those  who  could  not  go  as  educated  mis- 
sionaries have  gone  to  the  far  interior  as  missionary  farmers." 
The  report  of  the  proceedings  of  the  opening  of  this  mission 
school  ends  with  these  glowing  words  of  good  cheer: 

"So  the  proceedings  of  the  never-to-be-forgotten  days 
came  to  an  end,  days  which  are  the  beginning  of  what  we 
believe  to  be  a  new  epoch  in  the  mission  history  of  our  be- 
loved Dutch  Reformed  Church.  That  a  light  may  have  been 
lit  at  Worcester  that  will  penetrate  into  the  dark  heart  of 
Dark  Africa  ever  remains  our  earnest  prayer.  To  the  Lord 
be  thanks,  to  Him  the  honor,  from  Him  the  expectation." 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 
CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR  AFLOAT. 

THE  FASCINATING  STORY  OF  CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR 
UPON  THE  SEA  AND  ITS  REFLEX  INFLUENCE  UPON 
THE   ENDEAVORERS  ASHORE. 

"  Floating  Christian  Endeavor  has  demonstrated  its  possi- 
bilities. For  a  period  equal  to  four  enlistments  of  three 
years  each  it  has  won  its  trophies  for  Christ  afloat.  Hun- 
dreds of  sailors  have  through  it  been  pointed  to  the  '  Lamb 
of  God  which  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world.'  Its  gradu- 
ates are  to-day  preaching  and  living  the  gospel  in  all  parts 
of  the  world. 

"  Missions  to  the  sailors  have  been  tried  for  many  years 
with  meagre  results.  Now  let  us  build  up  and  strengthen 
this  mission  of  the  sailors  to  their  comrades.  And  soon  the 
time  will  come  that  wherever  flies  our  flag  afloat,  the  grander 
banner  of  the  cross  will  also  soon  spread  its  snow-white 
folds." 

Chaplain   Robert  E.  Steele,    U.  S.  Navy. 

NE  of  the  most  interesting  developments  of  Chris- 
tian Endeavor,  and  one  of  the  most  surprising,  is 
its  work  upon  the  sea.  No  one  would  have  been 
bold  enough  to  predict  twenty-five  years  ago,  or 
even  in  more  recent  years,  that  the  Society  had  a 
mission,  and  a  large  one,  to  sailors. 

That  a  society  which  seems  so  peculiarly  wedded  to  a 
local  church,  with  its  pledge  of  constancy  and  its  forms  of 
service,  many  of  which,  from  their  very  nature,  can  be  per- 
formed only  upon  dry  land,  should  find  its  place  on  ships  of 
war  and  merchant  vessels,  and  thus  go  into  every  harbor  of  the 

462 


Chrstian  Endeavor  Afloat.  •  463 

world  is  indeed  surprising.  It  is  only  another  illustration  of 
God's  guiding  hand,  and  of  the  flexibility  of  the  Society  and 
its  adaptability  to  all  classes  and  conditions  of  men.  The 
pledge  stands  for  a  general  principle.  It  means  loyalty  to 
Christ  and  His  service,  wherever  and  however  that  service 
can  be  performed,  and  the  specific  promise  of  devotion  to  the 
local  church  and  the  work  and  meetings  of  the  society  means 
only  that  that  is  the  way  in  which  most  young  people  can  best 
do  what  "He  would  like  to  have  them  do." 

The  sailor  boys  have  evidently  found  an  especial  pleas- 
ure in  the  link  which  the  Society  affords  between  them  and 
their  Christian  companions  on  shore.  Through  it  they  have 
received  letters  of  cheer  and  comfort  from  many  an  Endeav- 
orer,  and  more  material,  but  no  more  real,  tokens  of  good  will 
in  the  shape  of  comfort  bags,  calendars,  and  the  good  things 
of  Christmas  and  Thanksgiving,  and  have  often  been  enter- 
tained most  generously  by  the  Endeavorers  on  shore. 

The  first  Floating  Endeavor  society  was  organized  on  the 
United  States  revenue  marine  steamer  Dexter  in  1890,  and 
since  then  more  than  two  hundred  such  societies  have  been 
started.  Some  of  them  necessarily  have  but  a  short  life,  for 
the  sailors  are  changed  from  ship  to  ship;  their  terms  expire, 
or  for  other  unavoidable  reasons  the  societies  are  often  broken 
Floating  ^P  ^^^  must  be  frequently  reorganized. 
Societies  However,  on  many  famous  ships  Floating  En- 

Famous        deavor  societies  have  been  organized.     Among  the 
^^^'  victims  blown  up  in  Havana  harbor  on  the  Maine 

were  members  of  a  Floating  Endeavor  society.  There 
was  an  active  Floating  society  on  Admiral  Dewey's  flagship 
Olympia  when  she  entered  Manila  Bay  on  that  memorable 
first  of  May,  1898,  and  many  Endeavorers  were  found  in 
Sampson's  fleet  at  the  battle  of  Santiago.  There  was  an  En- 
deavor society  on  the  famous  Oregon  in  her  historic  journey 
around  Cape  Horn  to  take  part  in  the  battle  for  Cuba's  free- 


464  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

dom.  On  H.  M.S.  Powerful  was  another  society  of  marines, 
whose  members  were  drafted  into  the  South  African  war,  and 
who  fought  in  the  siege  of  Ladysmith. 

In  the  late  war  between  Russia  and  Japan  in  the  Japa- 
nese navy  were  Christian  Endeavorers,  and  multitudes  of 
other  brave  Jack  tars  on  less  conspicuous  ships  plying  in  peace- 
ful waters  in  the  commerce  of  the  nations  have  belonged  to 
floating  Endeavor  societies. 

On  the  United  States  revenue  steamer  Gallatin,  which 
was  wrecked  on  the  New  Hampshire  coast  a  number  of  years 
ago,  was  a  Floating  society.  Many  poor  fellows  went  to  the 
bottom.  One  of  the  rescued  sailors  said  afterwards  that  he 
lost  every  prized  possession  that  he  had,  except  his  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  badge,  and  that  was  pinned  to  his  shirt.  An- 
other mourned  that  he  had  lost  his  pledge  card;  but,  said  he, 
"I  have  not  lost  my  pledge,  for  that  is  engraved  upon  my 
heart." 

One  of  the  most  interesting  developments  of  Floating 
Christian  Endeavor,  paradoxical  as  it  may  sound,  is  found 
upon  the  shore,  in  the  great  Japanese  port  of  Nagasaki.  Here 
some  ten  years  ago  the  United  States  warship 
Endeavor  Charleston  was  lying  at  anchor.  On  board  was  a 
Nagasaki  vcry  active  Christian  Endeavor  society,  whose 
leader  was  one  Carlton  H.  Jencks,  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  and  gifted  young  men  who  ever  went  to  sea.  The 
boys  of  the  society  soon  found,  when  on  shore  leave,  that  there 
was  no  place  in  all  the  great  city  of  Nagasaki  where  a  decent 
sailor  could  get  a  meal  or  a  night's  lodging.  There  were  re- 
spectable first-class  hotels,  but  these  were  beyond  their  means. 
All  the  other  places  were  low  dives  and  dram-shops,  and  one 
street  where  these  were  especially  numerous  in  Nagasaki  is 
known  to  this  day  as  "Bloody  Street." 

The  Christian  Endeavorers  said,  "These  things  ought  not 
so  to  be,  and  we  are  the  boys  to  make  them  better."     So  they 


christian  Endeavor  Afloat. 


465 


466 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


"passed  the  hat"  first  among  themselves,  and  by  mortgaging 
their  wages  in  the  future  raised  in  cash  and  subscriptions,  it 
is  said,  six  hundred  silver  dollars.  Then  they  could  go  to 
others  with  a  good  conscience,  and  ask  for  more;  and  their 
comrades  and  officers  and  friends  on  the  shore  contributed 
enough  monev  so  that  they  were  able  to  purchase  a  commo- 


John  Makins, 
Manager  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  Seaman's  Home,  Nagasaki,  Japan. 

dious  building,  which  they  christened  the  ''Christian  En- 
deavor Seaman's  Home"  and  pu,t  it  under  the  control  of  a 
board  of  Nagasaki  missionaries.  Now  this  plant  is  worth 
ten  thousand  dollars  in  gold. 


christian  Endeavor  Afloat. 


467 


John 

Makins's 

Work. 


In  one  year  this  home  furnished  more  than  ten  thousand 
meals  to  sailors  and  nearly  three  thousand  lodgings.  Fifty- 
six  meetings  were  held  with  a  large  aggregate  attendance. 
The  home  has  a  good  reading-room,  a  dining-room,  a  soda- 
water  fountain,  which  is  largely  patronized  in  that  steamy 
climate,  baths  of  all  kinds,  and  bedrooms;  and  the  writer  can 
testify,  from  a  personal  visit,  of  its  cleanliness,  comfort,  and 
excellent  management. 

In  one  of  the  dormitories  is  a  large  picture  of  Carlton 
Jericks,  the  moving  spirit  in  the  founding  of  the 
home,  who  met  an  untimely  death  with  hundreds 
of  others  on  the  ill-fated  Maine,  when  it  went  to  the 
bottom  in  Havana  harbor.  Mr.  John  Makins  has  been  the 
most  efficient  manager  of  the  home  during  most  of  its  exist- 
ence, and  when,  after  a  residence  in  America,  he  returned  re- 
cently to  his  loved  work,  he  was  received  with  great  enthu- 
siasm. 

Miss  Antoinette  P.  Jones  has  been 
assiduous  from  the  beginning  in  pro- 
moting the  interests  of  Floating  Chris- 
tian Endeavor,  of  which  department  of 
the  work  she  is  the  superintendent. 
She  is  unwearied  in  her  efforts,  and  is 
a  most  voluminous  correspondent, 
writing  to  sailors  in  all  parts  of  the 
world,  encouraging  them  in  all  their 
endeavors,  and  keeping  them  in  touch 
with  their  friends  on  shore. 

Mr.  J.  M.  Wood,  of  the  Brooklyn 
Navy  Yard;  Chaplain  Steele,  formerly 
of  Hampton  Roads,  and  later  of  Bos- 
ton ;  and  many  others,  have  done  yeo- 
men's service.  Chaplain  Steele  is  es- 
pecially  interested   in   the   Society  because,   as  he   says,   "it 


Antoinette  P.  Jones, 

Falmouth,  Mass. 


468  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

is  the  only  distinctly  religious  effort  for  the  sailors  of  the 
navy."  The  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations  are  doing 
most  admirable  service,  but  on  the  sea  are  largely  social  in 
their  functions.  Christian  Endeavor  in  the  navy  insists  upon 
outspoken  religion,  and  the  badge  which  sailors  are  proud  to 
wear,  though  they  are  often  ridiculed  by  their  companions 
for  wearing  it,  stands  for  "Christ  Exalted"  there  as  every- 
where else. 

On  the  new  Maine,  which  has  taken  the  place  of  the 
wrecked  ship  of  the  same  name,  is  also  a  flourishing  society. 
One  of  the  boys  at  a  recent  meeting  has  told  how  their  ship- 
mates sometimes  scoff  at  them  when  they  see  the  badge  of 
Floating  Christian  Endeavor,  calling  out,  "Floaters,  float- 
ers!"    The   Endeavorers   take   the   chaff   good-na- 

Floaters  ^ 

and  turedly,   and   respond,   "Well,   it  s  better   to  be   a 

floater  than  a  sinker,  anyway." 

Miss  Jones  has  written  many  interesting  accounts  of  the 
Floating  societies  and  their  work.  In  the  marine  corps  espec- 
ially the  society  seems  to  flourish.  She  tells  how  the  sailors 
have  helped  the  missionary  work  in  distant  Guam,  going  to 
the  meetings  of  the  society  on  shore,  as  well  as  maintaining 
their  work  on  shipboard.  A  Floating  Endeavorer  on  the  U. 
S.  S.  Newark  declares  that  he  has  found  out  only  since  going 
into  the  navy  that  "it  is  not  enough  to  be  just  'not  a  bad  fel- 
low,' but  that  God  wants  us  to  be  all  in  all  for  Him,"  while 
another  sailor  writes:  "A  friend  started  me  travelling  on 
the  right  road.  He  would  take  me  in  one  of  the  small  boats 
of  the  ship,  get  his  Bible,  and  read  and  talk  with  me;  and  in 
that  way  I  was  converted."  Often  this  personal  directness 
of  Andrew  and  Peter  is  repeated  in  the  experience  of  our 
sailor  boys. 

A  simple  little  story  that  illustrates  the  trials  as  well  as 
the  opportunities  of  Floating  Endeavor  comes  from  Liver- 
pool, where  there  is  a  flourishing  branch  of  the  Floating  So- 


christian  Endeavor  Afloat. 


469 


ciety,  and  it  relates  to  a  vessel  in  the  Mediterranean  fleet  of  the 
Royal  Navy.     One  of  the  sailors  writes : 

"In  our  line  of  life  we  are  liable  to  be  called  on  at  any 
hour  of  the  day  or  night  to  do  work  which  is  not  always  of 
a  very  pleasant  nature.  One  night  one  of  our  people,  a 
Christian,  had  a  job  to  do  on  a  boiler,  which  was  lighted  up. 
Everything  did  not  go  on  very  well,  and  burnt  fingers  were 
the  order  of  the  day  (or  night).     Instead  of  using  bad  lan- 


Floating  Christian  Endeavorers,  U.  S.  Cruiser  Chicago. 

guage,  he  sang  a  hymn  and  smiled.  The  job  was  finished  and 
forgotten ;  but  some  time  afterwards  a  stoker  who  was  on 
watch  at  that  time  came  out  on  the  Lord's  side.  Afterwards 
he  told  us  that  he  first  began  to  think  seriously  on  that  night 
when  our  brother  kept  his  temper.  It  was  something  new  to 
him,  and  he  wondered  how  it  was;  and  now  he  is  one  of  our 


470         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

brightest  believers.     So  much  for  what  may  sometimes  ap- 
pear trifles  to  us.     There  are  no  trifles  with  God." 

The  reflex  influence  of  Floating  Endeavor,  like  that  of 
missionary  Endeavor,  is  good  for  young  people  on  shore, 
where  their  activities  have  been  engaged  and  their  sympathies 
aroused  for  their  brethren  on  the  sea.  In  many  ports  meet- 
ings have  been  held  for  the  sailors,  ships  visited  regularly 
whenever  in  port,  reading-rooms  provided,  and  all  sorts  of 
kindly  things  done  for  those  who  go  down  into  the  sea  in 
ships.  San  Francisco,  San  Diego,  New  York  and  Brooklyn, 
Boston  and  Liverpool,  Chicago  and  Bufifalo,  and  ports  on  the 
Great   Lakes   have   shared   in   these   generous    ac- 

Shore  ,•     •-•^o. 

Work  tivitieg. 

I****.!  Mr.  Giles  Kellogg,,  an  earnest  laborer  among 

the  sailors  on  the  Pacific  coast,  has  written  most 
interestingly  concerning  the  work  as  he  has  seen  it.  He  tells 
of  one  sailor  on  the  British  ship  Senegal  who  was  brought  in 
chains  into  a  California  port  in  mutiny.  After  reaching  shore 
he  went  to  the  Christian  Endeavor  meeting  in  San  Diego,  and 
there  expressed  deep  repentance  for  the  past,  and  yearning  for 
pardon.  Soon  he  entered  upon  a  course  of  training  as  an 
evangelist,  and  went  to  work  among  the  men  of  the  fishing- 
port  of  Milford  Haven  in  England.  Pulling  about  among 
the  vessels  in  the  harbor  and  visiting  them  in  turn,  he  has 
been  the  means  of  leading  many  to  accept  the  Saviour  whom 
he  found. 

Christian  song  has  been  greatly  blessed  to  the  sailors, 
who  love  to  hear  the  sweet  voices  of  fair  Endeavorers,  from 
whose  society  they  are  so  completely  shut  out  for  the  most  of 
their  lives.  Among  those  who  have  given  themselves  to  this 
work  is  a  niece  of  the  Hon.  John  D.  Long,  the  late  secretary 
of  the  navy. 

"When  the  sympathetic  contralto  notes  of  Miss  Long's 
voice,"  we   are   told,   "sang  the   simple   and   heart-touching 


Chrstian  Endeavor  Afloat.  471 

gospel  appeals,  many  were  noticeably  affected.  As  the 
singing  went  on,  and  a  verse  of  'Are  you  coming  home  to- 
night?' was  given,  a  card  was  passed  along  from  the  midst  of 
the  seamen,  on  which  was  written  the  name  with  words  say- 
ing that  a  mother's  prayers  were  answered,  and  that  her  boy 
was  coming  home  to  God  that  night." 

Miss  Long  was  not  spared  for  many  years  to  continue  to 
sing  the  gospel,  but  after  the  event  just  described  her  life  and 
means,  we  are  told,  were  given  to  public  evangelistic  singing 
for  Christ,  not  only  on  the  Pacific  coast,  but  on  the  Atlantic 
coast  as  well. 

The  Endeavor  launches  at  San  Diego,  at  Vineyard 
_,  .  ,.  Haven,  where  Captain  Edwards  has  been  such  a 

Christian  '  ^ 

Endeavor      powcr  for  good  among  the  sailors,   and  at  many 

Launches.  11111  r 

Other  places  have  been  real  steam  messengers  of 
the  gospel,  which  they  have  carried  to  a  multiude  of  hardy 
men  who  sail  the  seas. 

Often  the  sailors  return  the  compliment  by  visiting  the 
Endeavorers  at  home  in  their  meetings  or  social  gatherings, 
where  they  do  quite  as  much  good  as  they  receive.  I  have 
never  seen  the  attendants  at  a  staid  New  England  prayer- 
meeting  so  moved  and  intensely  interested  as  by  a  visit  of 
twenty  Floating  Endeavorers  from  the  new  Maine,  which  was 
then  in  the  Charlestown  Navy  Yard.  As  one  after  another  the 
sailors  rose  and  told  of  their  meetings,  of  their  joys  and  their 
trials,  the  ridicule  they  endured  and  the  peace  they  found  in 
the  service  of  Christ,  there  was  such  a  touch  of  reality  and 
sincerity  in  all  that  they  said  that  Christianity  seemed  a  new 
thing,  and  a  very  genuine  thing  to  all  who  heard  them.  As 
never  before,  these  Christian  people  and  thousands  of  others 
who  have  come  in  touch  with  Floating  Endeavor  have  learned 
to  sing  with  feeling  that  noble  hymn,  "For  those  in  peril  on 
the  sea": 


472  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

''Eternal  Father,  strong  to  save, 
Whose  arm  hath  bound  the  restless  wave, 
Who  bidst  the  mighty  ocean  deep 
Its  own  appointed  limits  keep ; 
O,  hear  us  when  we  cry  to  Thee 
For  those  in  peril  on  the  sea. 

"O  Trinity  of  love  and  power. 
Our  brethren  save  in  danger's  hour; 
From  rock  and  tempest,  fire  and  foe, 
Protect  them  wheresoe'er  they  go; 
Thus  evermore  shall  rise  to  Thee 
Glad  hymns  of  praise  from  land  and  sea." 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR  IN  SURPRISING 

PLACES. 

A  SCORE  OF  STATE  PENITENTIARIES,  DEAF  AND  DUMB 
ASYLUMS,  AND  SCHOOLS  FOR  THE  BLIND,  LIFE-SAVING 
STATIONS,  AND  BUSINESS  HOUSES  WOULD  SEEM  TO 
BE  STRANGE  PLACES  FOR  CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR  SO- 
CIETIES. HOW  THE  SOCIETY  FLOURISHES  IN  THESE 
PLACES   IS   HERE  TOLD. 

"  Christian  Endeavor  is  not  only  reaching  out,  but  is 
reaching  in.  It  has  penetrated  the  darkness  of  prison  cells 
and  sounded  the  glad  signal-note  of  pardon,  and  sin-bound 
men  can  be  heard  crying  out  in  the  midnight  of  despair,  as 
did  the  Philippian  jailer,  'What  must  I  do  to  be  saved?' 
Many  prisoners  have  been  made  free  indeed  through  the 
glorious  gospel  of  the  Son   of  God." 

Mr.    Frederick    A.    WalUs,   New    York. 

"  Christian  Endeavor  is  working  a  wonderful  reformation  in 
the  Eddyville  Prison.  Many  men  whose  lives  were  blackened 
by  sin  and  crime  are  now  serving  God  zealously  on  Christian 
Endeavor  committees  to  bring  their  fellow-prisoners  into  this 
sweet  and  blessed  pardon.  Remarkable  as  it  may  seem,  not  a 
single  released  prisoner  who  was  active  in  the  prison  Endeavor 
has  been  brought  back  for  the  second  term.  Only  eternity  can 
reveal  the  wonderful  workings  of  Christian  Endeavor  here. 
God  help  you  to  plant  a  Christian  Endeavor  society  in  every 
prison  in  the  land." 

"  Your  Christian  Endeavor  Comrades 

of  the  Eddyville  Prison." 
Convention  Message  from  a  Prison  Society. 

473 


474  CKristian   Endeavor  in   Surprising   Places. 

ROM  the  beginning  Christian  Endeavor  has  been  a 
surprise;  a  surprise  in  its  ready  acceptance  by  the 
Christian  public,  in  its  rapid  growth,  in  its  great ^ 
conventions,  in  its  adaptability  to  all  foreign  cli- 
mates and  conditions  of  life,  in  its  development 
of  new  features  just  when  they  were  most  needed,  in  the 
persistence  of  original  principles,  which  are  found  as  ef- 
fective to-day  as  when  they  were  first  promulgated,  in  the 
staying  power  which  usually  makes  the  oldest  societies,  ex- 
cept when  occasionally  frozen  out  by  pastoral  indifference 
or  ecclesiastical  hostility,  even  more  effective  than  when  first 
organized. 

Other  chapters  have  told  of  surprising  places  in  almost 
every   continent,    where    Christian    Endeavor    has    found    a 
home.     This  chapter  adds  to  the  list  some  striking  illustra- 
tions, which  might  be  almost  indefinitely  multiplied. 
Christian  Who  would  have  thought,  for  instance,  at  the 

Endeavor      beginning  that  there  was  any  place  for  a  Christian 

in  .  .  1  •  <•  o 

State  Endeavor  society  among  the  convicts  of  our  State 

prisons?  Yet  some  of  the  largest  and  most  devoted 
societies  in  the  world  are  found  in  the  penitentiaries.  The 
first  one  was  begun  in  the  Wisconsin  State  Prison  at  Waupun 
on  February  2,  1890,  just  nine  years  to  a  day  after  the  first 
society  in  a  church  was  formed.  The  Rev.  Victor  Kutchin, 
the  chaplain  of  the  prison,  was  the  organizer;  and  the  charter 
members  consisted  of  58  prisoners,  of  whom  35  were  active 
members.  The  highest  membership  at  any  one  period  was 
204,  and  after  less  than  five  years  724  men  had  been  con- 
nected with  this  society.  The  following  testimony  came  from 
this  chaplain  of  the  first  society  after  watching  its  results  for 
five  years: 

"By  the  working  principles  of  the  Christian  Endeavor, 
in  connection  with  the  usual  methods  employed  by  clergy- 
men having  a  prison  congregation^  we  can  easily  arrive  at 


In  Surprising   Places. 


475 


476         christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands, 

the  degree  of  spirituality  wherein  to  grade  the  men  who 
through  this  means  have  become  our  special  and  more  inti- 
mate charges.  It  is  also  a  very  convenient  mirror  in  which 
the  applicant  for  admission  to  the  fold  of  the  Good  Shepherd 
reveals  his  earnestness  or  lack  of  it,  and  that  before  he  is 
scarcely  aware  of  our  fully  comprehending  him.  Where  the 
conversion  is  actual,  the  changed  demeanor  from  that  com- 
mon sadness  or  recklessness  so  prevalent  in  penal  institutions 
to  one  of  quiet  and  abiding  trust  peculiar  to  the  genuine  con- 
vert is  an  indication  which  almost  invariably  indicates  the 
new  disciple  of  the  Master." 

Prison  societies  began  to  multiply  soon  after  the  first  one 
was  formed,  and  are  now  found  in  more  than  a  score  of  the 
largest  penitentiaries  in  the  country,  and  from  almost  every 
prison  come,  from  those  best  fitted  to  judge,  reports  that  the 
work  done  is  not  only  most  benign  in  its  immediate  efifects, 
but  permanently  useful. 

The  usual  sneer  against  all  such  efforts — and  a  very  shal- 
low and  silly  sneer  it  is — would  make  it  appear  that  the  pris- 
oners profess  conversion  only  to  curry  favor,  or  enter  into  the 
work  to  pass  away  the  time  which  hangs  heavily  upon  their 
hands.  This  is  directly  contradicted  by  the  facts,  which  can 
Y^^^  be  learned  from  any  one  who  is  conversant  with 

Converted      the    livcs   of    the    prisoners    after   their    discharge. 

Prisoners  t-»    •  o       •  c         • 

"  Hold  The  Utah  State  Prison  Society,  for  instance,  was 

organized  in  1899,  and  Mr.  Robert  J.  Jessup,  one 
of  the  organizers,  after  six  years  of  watchful  interest  says  he 
cannot  recall  more  than  two  members  who  after  their  dis- 
charge from  confinement  deliberately  walked  back  into  the 
ways  of  sin,  and  both  of  these  men  were  "dope  fiends,"  whose 
will-power  had  been  destroyed  by  the  drug. 

In  1903  two  of  these  Utah  prison  Endeavorers,  one  the 
corresponding  secretary,  and  the  other  the  vice-president,  of 
the  society  prevented  several  murderers  from  escaping  from 
the  prison,  at  the  risk  of  their  own  lives. 


In  Surnrising:  Places. 


477 


The  New  Mexico  Prison  Society  recently  celebrated  its 
tenth  anniversary.  Messages  were  received  from  former 
members.  One  is  superintendent  of  a  gospel  mission  at  Co- 
hoes,  N.  Y. ;  another  has  served  as  superintendent  of  a  Sun- 
day-school and  president  of  a  Christian  Endeavor  society  in 
Kansas;  another  is  a  coal-miner  in  New  York;  another  is 
in  business  in  Texas;  one  is  doing  good  carpenter  work  in 
Santa  Fe;  and  still  another  assists  in  the  county  jail  work  in 


The  White  Christian   Endeavor   Society  in  Frankfort   State   Prison,   Kentucky. 

Las  Vegas,  and  recently  read  a  paper  before  the  Santa  Fe 
Baptist  Association. 

The  three  Endeavor  societies  in  the  Kentucky  Peniten- 
tiary at  Frankfort  recently  conducted  a  successful  Bible  con- 
test in  which  26  men  took  part,  and  each  was  given  a  handsome 
Bible.     In  all  11,155  verses  were  memorized,  and  this  was 


478  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

only  one  of  several  like  contests  held  in  that  prison.  The 
writer  well  remembers  a  visit  to  this  prison,  and  his  introduc- 
tion to  the  three  societies  through  the  kindness  of  the  warden 
and  the  chaplain.  In  the  prison  for  white  men  were  a  large 
number  of  Endeavorers,  who  presented  him  with 
In  the  a  curious  canc  made  of  rings  of  horn  skilfully  glued 

Kentucky      together.     In  the  prison  for  black  men  was  another 

Prisons.  °  ^ 

society  almost  as  large,  whose  president  was  the 
poet  of  the  prison,  and  who  greeted  their  visitor  with  a  poetic 
effusion  full  of  undeserved  compliments,  and  then  presented 
him  with  a  block  of  hard  coal,  but  a  little  blacker  than  the 
face  of  the  poet,  carved  into  the  shape  of  a  closed  Bible. 

In  the  woman's  prison  he  was  greeted  by  another  com- 
pany of  Endeavorers,  who  gave  him  a  beautiful  bunch  of 
carnations,  another  Christian  Endeavor  surprise,  and  showing 
the  same  sympathy,  generosity,  and  kindness  of  heart  that 
Endeavorers  outside  of  prison  walls  often  manifest. 

Among  the  souvenirs  which  I  prize  most  highly  are  three 
gavels  made  in  different  prisons,  and  beautifully  made,  too, 
by  Endeavorers  who  worked  after  hours  to  make  them  for 
use  in  calling  together  the  great  conventions.  Two  of  these, 
adorned  with  silver  bands,  and  finely  inlaid,  were  given  at 
the  convention  in  Nashville,  and  the  Rev.  S.  N.  Vail, 
representing  the  Kentucky  Endeavorers,  happily  said  in  pre- 
senting one  of  them  to  the  presiding  officer: 

"I  deem  it  a  great  honor  and  privilege  to  present  to  this 
convention  a  gavel  fashioned  and  made  by  a  convict,  serv- 
ing in  the  stripes  and  chains  of  Eddyville  prison.  He  made 
this  gavel  with  a  penknife  and  a  little  file,  in  his  cell,  after 
his  day's  work,  and  in  the  light  of  a  candle  or  lamp  furnished 
by  friends  outside  of  the  prison  walls. 

"This  brother  was  led  to  his  Saviour  by  the  Endeavor  So- 
ciety; and  the  polish  and  taste  he  has  given  to  the  otherwise 
rough  material  in  this  gavel  are  emblematic  of  the  change 


In  Surprising  Places,  479 

effected  by  the  gospel  in  that  prison.  Instead  of  cruelty,  it 
has  brought  into  those  wards  sweet  sympathy,  converted  the 
bare  ground  of  the  prison  yard  into  a  greensward  studded 
with  beautiful  flowers,  whose  daily  mission  (in  the  light  of 
an  open  Bible)  is  to  teach  those  unhappy  inmates  the  great 
lesson  of  trust  in  God.  It  has  filled  the  cells  and  workshops 
of  that  institution  with  the  benevolent  atmosphere  of  the  Sun 
of  Righteousness,  while  a  number  of  its  convicts  are  rejoicing 
in  the  forgiveness  of  sin  and  the  hope  of  eternal  life  through 
Jesus  Christ." 

While  I  am  engaged  in  writing  this  history, 
A  Letter  a  personal  letter  has  come  from  an  inmate  of  the 
Anamosa.  lowa  State  Penitentiary  at  Anamosa,  which  in  its 
substance  is  like  scores  of  others  that  have  come  to 
the  writer.  For  eight  years  this  society  has  been  in  existence. 
"We  are  permitted,"  says  my  correspondent,  "to  meet  for 
twenty-five  minutes  every  Sunday  afternoon.  One  of  the 
prisoners  takes  charge  of  the  meeting,  and  we  are  at  liberty 
to  speak  on  the  topic,  bear  testimony,  lead  in  prayer,  or  sing, 
with  as  much  freedom  as  if  we  were  outside  prison  walls. 
Four  times  a  year,  on  holidays,  we  hold  a  special  meeting 
which  is  of  unusual  interest,  many  more  men  taking  part, 
with  more  freedom  than  at  the  regular  Sunday  afternoon 
meeting.  One  friend  of  mine  was  converted  here  as  the  result 
of  the  society.  He  went  out  to  lead  an  honorable  Christian 
life,  engaged  in  Christian  work,  and  died  this  summer  faith- 
ful to  the  last." 

In  all,  many  tens  of  thousands  of  convicts  have  been  con- 
nected with  these  prison  societies,  and  several  hundreds  of 
"  Comrades  ^^ese  have  become  "Comrades  of  the  Quiet  Hour," 
of  the  showing  that  the  deepest  spiritual  things   appeal 

Hour"  to  these  men  who  have  worn  prison  stripes.     In- 

in  Prison.      ^^^^  ^j^^  ^^^^^  cvangclist,  Mr.  Dwight  L.  Moody, 

once  said  to  me  that  he  had  found  some  of  the  best  men  he 
knew  among  the  Endeavorers  in  the  prison  society  in  New 


480  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Landso 

Mexico,  and  they  were  murderers,  too,  who  in  a  moment 
of  passion,  when  crazed  by  drink,  perhaps,  had  taken  the  life 
of  a  fellow  man,  but  who,  when  given  time  to  think  and  re- 
pent behind  prison  bars,  had  been  thoroughly  converted. 
Here  is  a  verse  of  a  beautiful  poem  written  by  a  prisoner  in 
the  Massachusetts  State  Prison,  and  published  in  The  Mentor, 
the  prison  paper: 

"Only  a  convict!    On  Calvary 

A  leader  once  of  a  desperate  band 
Now  calls  in  his  dying  agony 

To  his  fellow  sufiferer  near  at  hand, 
'Lord,  when  Thou  reignest,  remember  me!' 

And  hears,  to  his  wondering,  glad  surprise, 
'Thou  shalt  be  with  me  in  Paradise.'  " 

Who  will  say  after  these  examples  of  what  Christ  can  do 
within  prison  walls  that  such  conversions  are  always  "made 
to  order"? 

The  Endeavorers  outside  of  prison  walls  have  shared 
in  the  benefits  of  this  work  for  the  prisoners,  which  they  have 
usually  been  instrumental  in  starting.  Their  sympathies  have 
been  awakened  and  their  vision  of  the  possibilities  of  the 
power  of  Christ  have  been  widened  as  they  strive  to 
obey  His  command,  and  have  heard  His  gentle  voice  in  ap- 
proval say,  "I  was  in  prison,  and  ye  visited  me." 

Another    surprising    place    for    a   .society    of 
tha^  Christian  Endeavor  to  appear  is  in  a  deaf  and  dumb 

Societies. 

asylum.  One  surely  would  not  expect  an  organ- 
ization whose  active  members  are  pledged  to  take  "some  part 
aside  from  singing  in  every  meeting"  to  be  found  in  an  insti- 
tution where  no  one  could  utter  a  single  word.  Yet  there  are 
several  such  societies,  and  I  have  never  been  more  touched 
than  when  in  conventions  on  both  sides  of  the  water  I  have 
seen  a  little  company  of  bright,   eager-faced   Endeavorers, 


In  Surprising  Places. 


481 


Christian  Endeavor  in  India. 
A  Christian  Endeavor  Society  in  the  School  for  the  Blind  at  Bombay. 

31  ^ 


482  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

whose  other  senses  seemed  to  be  more  alert  because  of  their  loss 
of  hearing,  watch  the  rapidly  moving  fingers  of  the  interpret- 
er, who  with  lightning-like  signs  interpreted  what  I  had  to 
say.  However  fast  I  spoke,  he  was  sure  to  keep  up  with  me. 
It  was  always  a  marvel  to  me  how  he  could  talk  so  rapidly 
with  his  ten  fingers,  and  how  his  audience  could  hear  so  ac- 
curately with  their  eyes,  and  catch  every  distinct  shade  of 
meaning;  for  this  was  evident  from  the  lights  and  shadows 
that  passed  over  their  faces  as  they  saw  the  humor  or  the 
pathos  of  a  little  story,  or  grew  serious  with  some  appeal  to 
their  noblest  natures. 

One  such  society  in  Edinburgh  is  called  the  ^'Ephphatha 
Society,"  in  memory  of  our  Lord's  word  when  He  looked  up 
to  heaven,  and  said  unto  the  deaf  and  dumb  man,  "Ephpha- 
tha,  that  is,  Be  opened;  and  straightway  his  ears  were  opened, 
and  the  string  of  his  tongue  was  loosed,  and  he  spake  plain." 
How  marvellously  among  these  deaf-mute  Christians  has 
Christ's  miracle  been  repeated!  Through  the  hands  of  their 
friends  they  have  learned  to  hear.  Through  their  own  hands 
they  have  learned  to  speak.  They  can  testify  to  the  love  of 
Christ  as  well  as  any  one.  They  can  offer  prayers  that  their 
companions  can  understand.  They  can  enjoy  a  union  meet- 
ing as  much  as  those  who  have  five  senses  all  in  perfect  condi- 
tion. No  wonder  that  they  take  the  name  "Ephphatha,"  "Be 
opened,"  for  the  Master  has  not  only  opened  their  ears 
through  their  eyes,  but  has  opened  their  hearts  to  receive  His 
word  and  do  His  will. 

Amon  Another  unlooked-for  place  in  which  to  find 

the  Christian  Endeavor  work  is  among  the  life-savers, 

the  brave  and  resolute  men  who  patrol  our  stormy 
coast.  In  several  of  these  stations  Christian  Endeavor  so- 
cieties have  been  formed,  and  to  others  Endeavorers  have  gone 
with  much  profit  to  themselves  as  well  as  to  the  life-savers. 
The  Rev.  C.  D.  Crane,  the  efficient  secretary  of  the  Maine 


In  Surprising  Places, 


483 


Union,  has  done  not  a  little  for  these  lonely  heroes,  and  has 
sometimes  held  a  meeting  out-of-doors  in  order  that  the  "look- 
out," who  was  not  allowed  to  come  inside  during  his  hours  of 
watch,  might  be  present.  All  the  life-saving  stations  on  the 
coast  of  Maine  have  thus  been  visited  by  Endeavorers. 

Christian   Endeavor  was  started  for  the  young  people, 
and  always  has  been  and  always  will  be  a  young  people's 


On  the  Valdez  Glacier  in  Alaska. 

society;  but  that  is  by  no  means  the  same  as  saying  that  there 
can  never  be  an  old  people's  society,  or  a  middle-aged  peo- 
ple's society.  In  fact,  there  have  been  many  such.  Indeed, 
I  have  seen  a  picture  of  a  Grandmothers'  society  in  Japan, 
where  every  wrinkled  face  and  bent  form  told  of  many  years 
of  service  for  others. 


4^4  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

Mothers'  societies  are  comparatively  common,  though 
not  nearly  as  numerous  as  they  should  be.  The  first  one  was 
started  in  the  first  Presbyterian  Church  of  Topeka,  Kan.,  in 
April,  1893,  by  Mrs.  Barton,  whose  son,  Fred  C.  Barton,  was 
superintendent  of  the  Juniors  at  that  time.  It  was  started  to 
help  the  Juniors,  and  this  must  always  be  one  of  the  great 
objects  of  the  Mothers'  society.  That  first  Mothers'  society 
is  still  flourishing,  and  the  members  often  meet  at  the  homes  of 
one  another,  and  spend  a  social  day,  sewing  for  some  one  who 
for  any  reason  has  an  extra  amount  of  work  on  hand,  while 
regular  meetings  are  also  held  in  the  homes  of  the 
s^ciet^es  different  members.  Many  a  work  of  love  is  quietly 
accomplished  by  these  ladies,  such  as  visiting  the 
sick,  calling  upon  the  strangers,  sending  flowers  and  other 
tokens  of  kindly  remembrance.  Why  would  not  this  be  a 
good  kind  of  woman's  club  to  establish  in  every  church,  whose 
members  might  not  become  so  familiar,  perhaps,  with  the 
ethics  of  John  Stuart  Mill  or  the  pessimism  of  Schopenhauer, 
but  whose  practical  ethics  might  be  improved  by  prayer  and 
practice  of  good  works  for  others? 

In  proportion  to  the  whole  number  of  Endeavorers,  Spain 
has  more  Mothers'  Endeavor  societies  than  any  other  coun- 
try, nearly  a  seventh  being  of  this  character,  but  there  is  a 
great  and  unoccupied  field  for  this  kind  of  Endeavor  all  over 
the  world. 

Another  society  of  older  people  has  been  formed  in  Sol- 
diers' Homes,  and  this,  too,  is  a  surprising  development; 
but  the  writer  has  seen  a  long  row  of  veterans  of  the  Civil 
War,  some  scores  of  them,  following  the  convention  addresses 
and  joining  in  the  convention  songs  with  all  the  ardor  and  en- 
thusiasm of  the  youngest  Endeavorer.  God  bless  these  veter- 
ans, who  have  enlisted  in  the  army  of  Christ,  as  well  as  re- 
sponded to  their  country's  call  for  service. 

Other   societies    have   been    formed    among    policemen, 


In  Surprising  Places. 


48s 


among  street-car  employees,  among  travelling  men,  in  schools 
for  the  blind,  among  the  employees  of  hospitals  for  the  in- 
sane and  other  hospitals,  and  in  several  large  manufacturing 
establishments.  The  transient  nature  of  the  constituency  of 
these  societies  sometimes  makes  it  difficult  to  continue  them 
long;  but,  while  they  have  existed,  they  have  done  much  good. 
The  Travellers'  societies  have  been  largely  merged  into  the 


4  W*^    ^ 


f  f  I 


.  i  ^ 


Some  C.   E.  Veterans  in  the  National  Military  Home,  Leavenworth,  Kansas. 

"Gideon  Bands"  for  commercial  travellers;  but  the  initial 
impetus  for  this  work,  for  which  we  all  crave  the  largest  suc- 
cess, came  from  Christian  Endeavor  circles. 

A  most  interesting  society  has  been  organized  among  the 
officers  and  clerks,  compositors  and  other  employees  of  the 
United  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  and  The  Christian  En- 
deavor World  at  their  office  in  Boston,  called  the  "Home 


486         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

Office   Society."     Delightful  little  prayer-meetings  are  held 

every  week.     Charming  sociables  bring  the  work- 

iSome  ers  together  occasionally  for  a  "good  time,"  and  an 

Office  example  is  thus  set  which  may  well  be  followed 

Society.  ,  r        T-    J  u  u      • 

by  other  Endeavorers,  whose  busmess  society  may 

be  as  helpful  to  the  spiritual  and  social  life  as  their  church 
society. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

FOUR  CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR  JOURNEYS 
AROUND  THE  WORLD. 

IT  HAS  BEEN  THE  PRIVILEGE  OF  THE  WRITER  TO 
TAKE  THESE  JOURNEYS  AND  MANY  OTHERS  IN  THE 
INTERESTS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR  MOVE- 
MENT. SOME  OF  HIS  IMPRESSIONS  ARE  HERE  BRIEFLY 
GIVEN. 

"  To  me  one  of  the  supreme  values  of  the  Christian  En- 
deavor Society  is  its  international  character.  The  lines  go 
out  to  every  part  of  Great  Britain,  to  the  capitals  of  con- 
tinental Europe,  to  the  wide-reaching  realms  where  Chris- 
tendom comes  into  contact  with  Islam  and  the  more  ancient 
religions  of  Asia ;  to  brethren  in  Australia  and  New  Zealand, 
in  southern  Africa  and  in  the  isles  of  Japan.  A  composite 
photograph  of  the  national  representatives  of  Christian  En- 
deavor would  show  us  the  races  of  mankind  and  womankind 
the  world  over." 

Rev.  John  Henry  Barrows,  D.D., 
late  President  of  Oberlin  College. 

iT  is  not  inappropriate  at  this  point,  perhaps,  to  de- 
vote a  brief  chapter  to  some  of  the  journeys  taken 
by  the  writer  in  connection  with  the  introduction 
of  Christian  Endeavor  into  foreign  lands,  especi- 
ally as  it  gives  him  an  opportunity  to  illustrate 
some  of  the  vital  principles  of  Christian  Endeavor  which 
come  more  forcibly  to  a  traveller's  attention  on  such  journeys 
than  at  any  other  time. 

As  was  natural,  the  first  journeys  in  the  interest  of  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  were  made  to  Great  Britain,  the  mother  coun- 

487 


488         christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

try,  which  so  soon  largely  adopted  the  daughter's  method 
of  organization  for  the  young.  The  first  of  these  was  made 
in  1888,  and  the  second  in  1891.  But  the  first  journey  around 
the  world  was  not  undertaken  until  the  fall  of  1892,  when, 
almost  immediately  after  the  great  convention  in  New  York, 
the  writer  with  his  wife  and  eldest  son  started  to  circumnavi- 
gate the  globe  in  the  interests  of  Christian  Endeavor.  This 
journey  took  them  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  to  all  the  colonies 


A  Beauty  Spot  in  New  Zealand. 

of  Australia  with  the  exception  of  Western  Australia,  next 
to  China  and  Japan,  back  along  the  Chinese  coast  to  Singa- 
pore, Ceylon,  Madura,  Calcutta,  and  Bombay,  through  the 
^^^  Red  Sea  and  the  Suez  Canal  to  Egypt  and  the  Holy 

First  Land.     Then  to  Beirut  and  Syria,  across  Turkev, 

Journey.  .  ,,  ,  ,«.,,.  ^ 

through  the  very  heart  of  Asia  Mmor  to  Constanti- 
nople, by  way  of  Greece,  Italy,  Switzerland,  and  Spain  to  a 


Four  Journeys  Around  the  World.         489 

national  convention  in  Great  Britain,  and  thence  to  their  own 
home.  This  journey  occupied  nearly  a  year,  and  was  full  of 
delightful  experiences,  some  of  which  have  been  detailed  in 
another  volume,*  and  resulted  in  the  establishment  of  the 
Society  in  some  countries,  and  it  is  hoped  in  its  strengthening 
in  other  lands. 

T^^g  In  1896,  at  the  call  of  Endeavorers  in  India 

Second  and  South  Africa,  the  president  of  the  United  So- 
ciety undertook  another  journey,  this  time  going 
alone,  visiting  Egypt  again,  and  going  more  thoroughly  over 
portions  of  India.  At  this  time  the  United  Society  for  India, 
Burma,  and  Ceylon  was  formed.  Immediately  afterward,  the 
writer  sailed  from  Madras  to  Durban  in  a  coolie  ship,  a  long 
and  lonesome  voyage  of  twenty-three  days,  when  he  was  the 
only  white  passenger.  But  the  friends  he  made  and  the  meet- 
ing he  was  able  to  attend  in  Natal,  the  Transvaal  Republic, 
and  the  Orange  Free  State  (before  these  two  were  annexed  by 
Great  Britain),  as  well  as  in  Cape  Colony,  well  repaid  him 
for  the  discomforts  of  the  voyage,  and  he  was  glad  to  be  able 
to  do  a  little  something  to  arouse  a  larger  Endeavor  spirit 
in  Africa,  where  the  work  is  now  flourishing  so  vigorously. 
While  in  South  Africa,  he  met  President  Kruger  of  the 
Transvaal  and  President  Steyn  of  the  Orange  Free  State,  both 
of  whom  were  interested  in  his  mission. 

Sailing  from  Cape  Town  up  the  coast  of  Africa,  he 
joined  his  family  in  Southampton  after  a  six  months'  absence, 
and  was  enabled  to  spend  some  time  with  them  among  the 
Endeavorers  of  Great  Britain  and  the  Continent  before  re- 
turning home. 

In  the  year  1900  an  urgent  call  came  from  the  Endeavor- 
ers of  China  that  he  should  attend  their  Fifth  Annual  Con- 
vention, and  so  with  Mrs.  Clark  and  another  son  this  journey 
was  undertaken,  and  a  delightful  convention  was  enjoyed  in 

*  "  Our  Journey  Around  the  World." 


490 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


The 

Third 

Journey, 

and 

Home 

by  way  of 

Siberia. 


Foochow,  as  well  as  many  other  meetings  in  Shanghai, 
Ningpo,  Peking,  Tung-cho,  and  Pao-ting-fu  in  China,  as 
well  as  in  most  of  the  large  centres  in  Japan. 

In  Japan,  also,  they  were  permitted  to  attend  a  most 
delightful  national  convention  in  Kobe,  and  to  renew  the 
friendship  formed  with  the  devoted  missionaries  on  a  pre- 
vious journey.  The  travellers  left  China  just  before  the 
Boxer  uprising,  though  no  one  at  the  time  knew  of  the  dread- 
ful massacres  that  would  break  out  in  another  fortnight;  and 
in  order  to  get  to  London  in  season  for  the  World's 
Convention  of  1900  they  decided  to  travel  across 
Siberia  by  the  newly  opened  Trans-Siberian  route. 
This  was  then  entirely  unknown,  as  steam  commu- 
nication had  been  opened  for  only  a  few  days  when 
they  started,  and  they  were  the  first  travellers  of 
any  nation  to  go  around  the  world  by  this   route.     There 

were  many  unexpected 
delays  and  much  discom- 
fort, and  the  journey  oc- 
cupied forty-two  days 
instead  of  the  twenty-five 
it  was  expected  to  take, 
twenty  of  them  being  oc- 
cupied with  the  journey 
up  the  Amur  River, 
which  just  then  was  at  its 
shallowest.  But  the 
journey  was  safely  ac- 
complished at  last,  and 
London  was  reached  the  very  day  before  the  convention  be- 
gan, instead  of  with  a  margin  of  two  weeks  as  was  expected. 
In  1903  the  repeated  and  urgent  calls  of  the  Endeavorers 
in  New  Zealand  and  Australia  were  responded  to,  and  on 
the  last  day  of  the  year,  together  with  his  daughter  as  travel- 


by  Wheelbarrow  to  a  Christian  En- 
deavor  Service  in  China. 


•     Four  Journeys  Around  the  World.         491 

ling  companion  and  secretary,  the  writer  started  on  a  fourth 
journey  around  the  globe.  In  some  respects  this  was  one  of 
the  most  interesting  of  all,  as  he  was  permitted  to 
see  some  of  the  natural  wonders  of  New  Zealand 
and  Australia,  as  well  as  to  note  the  remarkable 
progress  which  had  been  made  in  Christian  Endeavor  circles 
since  his  previous  visit  twelve  years  before.  The  Gold  Fields 
as  well  as  the  great  cities  of  Australia  were  visited,  and,  sail- 
ing from  Albany,  on   King  George's   Sound,  the  travellers 


The 

Fourth 

Journey 


Mayoral  Reception  to  Dr.   Clark  at  Wellington,   New   Zealand,  January  30,   1904. 

made  their  way  in  a  stanch  Scotch  ship  across  the  "roaring 
forties"  to  Durban,  thence  around  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 
to  Cape  Town,  and  back  to  England  by  the  usual  route. 

Owing  to  the  delay  of  the  steamer  in  crossing  the  great 
ocean  between  Australia  and  Africa,  the  plans  for  this 
visit  to  South  Africa  were  seriously  interfered  with,  and 
the  week  which  it  was  originally  hoped  could  be  spent 
in  this  continent  was  reduced  to  three  or  four  days,  But 
time  enough  was  given  to  see  many  hearty  and  earnest 
friends  of  the  cause  in  Durban  and  Cape  Town,  and  to  be 
cheered  by  the   splendid   results   of   the   earnest   Endeavor- 


492 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


ers  of  South  Africa.  Before  reaching  home  on  this  journey, 
too,  a  visit  was  made  to  France,  where  the  French  national 
union  was  formed,  to  Switzerland,  and  to  Germany. 

Many  other  journeys  across  the  Atlantic  have  taken  the 
writer  on  different  occasions  to  Great  Britain  and  Germany 
and  Spain  and  Portugal  and  Scandinavia  and  Russia  and 
Bulgaria  and  Bohemia  and  Macedonia;  to  Italy,  France,  and 
Switzerland;  to  Belgium,  Holland,  and  Iceland. 

He  would  be  a  dull  scholar  indeed  who  could  go  to  this 
travel  school  for  so  long  without  learning  something  of  God's 
ways  with  man,  and  the  divine  favor  to  the  cause  which  it  was 
especially  the  traveller's  business  to  promote.     These  journeys. 


Ta$m  tint  a.  Ft;b>.23. 


Route  of  Dr.  Clark's  Fourth  Journey  Around  the  World,  January  to  July,    1904. 

too,  might  well  induce  humility  of  spirit,  as  they  have  re- 
vealed how  in  every  land  it  was  "not  by  might,  nor  by  power," 
not  by  human  wisdom  or  skill  of  organization,  but  through 
the  divine  good  pleasure  and  kindly  care,  that  the  Society  has 
flourished  and  grown  strong. 

One  chief  impression  which  has  been  made  upon  the 
writer's  mind  in  these  many  journeyings  is  that  of  the  blessed 
reality  of  Christian  fellowship  the  world  around.  It  can 
hardly  be  realized  by  my  younger  readers  how  comparatively 


Four  Journeys  Around  the  World.         493 

new  is  the  development  of  this  idea  in  its  world-wide  aspect. 
Christian  ^°^  ^^^  Christian  traveller  cannot  go  to  any  con- 
Feiiowship    siderable  section  of  this  world  except  Tibet  with- 

Evcrvwhcrc 

'out  finding  that  Christian  brethren  have  been  there 
before  him,  and  without  receiving  the  right  hand  of  Chris- 
tian fellowship.  Fifty  years  ago  this  could  not  possibly  have 
been  said.  Twenty-five  years  ago  it  was  less  true  than  now. 
Even  thirteen  years  since,  when  the  first  journey  outlined  in 
this  chapter  was  taken,  it  could  not  be  said  with  the  emphasis 
with  which  it  can  now  be  asserted.  Christian  Endeavorers 
may  well  be  thankful  that  their  organization  has  had  some- 
thing to  do  with  the  extension  and  promotion  and  permanent 
establishment  of  this  world-wide  fellowship. 

There  are  two  songs  which  Christian  travellers  hear  now 
more  commonly  than  any  other  two  all  around  the  world, 
and  they  both  show  the  yearnings  of  the  heart  for  this  kinship 
in  Christ,  which  is  growing  more  wide  and  strong  with  every 
passing  year.     These  two  songs  are 

"Blest  be  the  tie  that  binds 
Our  hearts  in  Christian  love," 

and  "God  be  with  you  till  we  meet  again." 

These  two  songs  have  been  translated  into  every  tongue, 
and  are  sung  in  every  clime.  The  Christian  Endeavor  So- 
ciety has  had  much  to  do  with  popularizing  them,  especially 
the  latter,  which,  it  is  said,  was  first  sung  in  public  at  a  gather- 
ing of  any  considerable  size  in  a  Christian  Endeavor  union 
meeting  more  than  twenty  years  ago. 

Another  impression  has  been  that  of  the  immense  value 

of  missionary  work  and  the  genuine  heroism  and  devotion  of 

missionary  workers.     The   heroes   of   the   modern 

HeroismT^   world  are  found  very  largely  on  the  mission  fields. 

For  the  Christian  martyrs  of  to-day  we  must  look 

to  China  and  to  Turkey;  and  it  is  the  deliberate  opinion  of 


494 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


the  author,  after  seeing  missionaries  of  all  denominational 
boards  in  all  parts  of  the  world  that  there  is  no  class  of  men 
in  any  calling  who,  on  the  average,  are  so  well  educated,  so 
tactful  and  efficient  in  their  work,  so  devoted  and  consecrated, 
and  on  the  whole  so  successful,  as  the  missionaries  of  the  cross. 
It  can  safely  be  asserted  that  none  others  are  doing  so  much 
to  change  the  face  of  the  earth  for  good,  physically,  mentally, 
morally,  and  spiritually,  as  the  missionaries  who  have  gone 


A  Scene  in  Scandinavia. 

out  from  Christian  lands  to  the  "regions  that  sit  in  darkness 
and  the  shadow  of  death." 

One  more  impression  that  relates  particularly  to  the  So- 
ciety of  Christian  Endeavor  and  its  work  is  that  of  the  adapt- 
ability of  its  methods  to  all  climes  and  conditions.  It  has 
proved  to  be  so  entirely  flexible  that  it  can  be  used  by  the  raw 


Four  Journeys  Around  the  World.         495 

heathen  who  twelve  months  ago  never  heard  the  gospel 
preached,  as  well  as  by  the  most  cultured  young 
people  in  any  city  in  Great  Britain  or  America. 
The  Hindu  boys  and  girls  who  come  from  heathen 
homes,  and  do  not  profess  to  be  Christians,  are  formed  into 
societies  whose  only  pledge  is  that  they  will  read  the  Bible 
and  study  about  Christianity,  and  this  is  for  them  genuine 
Christian  Endeavor. 


Flexible 

Christian 

Endeavor. 


How  We  Traveled  in  the  "Boxer"    Country. 

After  all,  human  nature  is  very  much  the  same  all  over 
the  world.  The  tint  of  the  skin,  the  language  or  the  accent, 
the  training  and  traditions  of  early  life,  these  are  all  acci- 
dents and  of  but  little  moment,  compared  with  the  underlying 
need  of  every  soul  for  communing  with  God,  for  fellowship 
with  Christ  and  His  people,  for  aspiration  and  endeavor  to 
do  service  for  one's  fellow  men  for  Christ's  sake.  These 
longings   and   fundamental   aspirations    are   found   in   every 


496  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

heart,  and  these  are  met  by  the  simple  methods  and  the  sane 
and  sensible  programme  and  principles  of  Christian  En- 
deavor. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 
CITIZENSHIP  ENDEAVORS. 

THE  PART  THE  SOCIETY  HAS  TAKEN  IN  AROUSING  THE 
SPIRIT  OF  CHRISTIAN  PATRIOTISM,  STANDING  FOR 
CIVIC  RIGHTEOUSNESS,  AND  OPPOSING  UNJUST  WARS  IS 
HEREIN  DESCRIBED. 

"  As  a  training  for  citir:enship,  for  usefulness  in  the  churches 
and  in  the  communities,  its  systematic,  uniform,  and  united 
activities,  stimulated  and  sustained  by  the  obligation  of  a  cov- 
enant with  God  and  men  as  binding  and  exalting  as  the 
'  Solemn  League  and  Covenartt '  of  Scotland's  noblest  days,  are 
of  the  first  order  of  practical  importance." 

Hon.  Henry  B.  Macfarland, 
President   of  the  Board   of   Commissioners  of  the  District   of 

Columbia. 

"  The  Society  has  proved  a  most  potent  and  effective  influ- 
ence in  the  elevation  of  the  race  and  the  advancement  of  our 
Christian  civilization." 

Hon.  Charles  E.  Littlefield, 
Member  of  Congress  from  Maine. 

]T  was  at  an  international  convention  in  Montreal  in 
1893  that,  so  far  as  is  known,  the  proposition  was 
first  made  that  Endeavorers  should  take  up  good 
citizenship  as  one  of  the  regular  features  of  their 
work. 

In  the  address  of  the  president  of  the  United  Society 
for  that  year  this  idea  was  dwelt  upon  at  length,  and  with 
these  words  this  part  of  the  address  closed: 

"This  convention  can  pass  no  votes  or  resolutions  that  are 
binding  upon  individuals  or  societies, — nor  can  any  State  or 
local  union,— but  it  can  and  should  lead  us  in  this  and  every 
32  497 


498  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

such  matter  more  fully  to  recognize  our  individual  responsi- 
bility as  citizens  as  well  as  Christian  men  and  women.  Some 
phase  of  this  very  important  subject  of  good  citizenship, 
viewed  from  the  Christian  standpoint,  may  well  occupy  our 
attention  at  more  than  one  of  our  Society  prayer-meetings  and 
at  more  than  one  local-union  gathering  of  the  year  to  come. 
How  may  we  become  better  citizens?  How  may  we  be  truer 
patriots?     Let  us  give  to  these  a  worthy  answer." 

In  an  entirely  unexpected  way  has  this  suggestion  been 
carried  out,  and  not  only  in  occasional  local-union  gatherings 
and  society  prayer-meetings,  but  in  almost  every  American 
and  British  convention  of  any  considerable  size  from  that 
day  to  this  has  good  citizenship  been  a  prominent  feature  of 
discussion  and  a  frequent  obJQCt  of  fervent  prayer.  In  all 
parts  of  the  world,  too,  has  the  idea  been  taken  up;  and 
China  and  India,  as  well  as  English-speaking  lands,  have 
their  good-citizenship  rallies. 

Is  it  too  much  to  believe  that  the  marvellous 
JM^  civic  awakening  of  the  past  two  years,  the  like  of 

Awakening    which   has   never  been   known   in  America,  when 

in  America.  i     i         •  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

corruption  and  bossism  have  been  downed,  and 
righteousness  exalted  as  never  before  in  the  history  of  the 
nation,  is  due,  in  some  measure  at  least,  to  the  civic  awakening 
in  the  hearts  of  many  young  Christians? 

Since  the  convention  of  1893  tens  of  thousands  of  prayer- 
meetings  have  been  held  with  Christian  citizenship  for  their 
topic.  Thousands  of  addresses  have  been  made  at  local 
unions,  district  meetings,  State  conventions,  and  national  as- 
semblies, some  of  them  by  the  ablest  orators  in  the  country, 
on  this  burning  theme.  The  evils  of  the  day  have  been  vig- 
orously attacked,  corruption  in  high  places  has  been  unspar- 
ingly denounced,  and  the  loftiest  patriotism  has  been  held 
up  as  the  ideal  before  every  young  American.  These  meet- 
ings  could   not  have   been   without   a   vast   influence;    and, 


Citizenship   Endeavors.  499 

though  many  other  causes  have  contributed  to  the  splendid 
moral  upheaval  of  1905,  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society  may 
modestly  claim  to  have  done  its  share. 

It  can  easily  be  conceived  that  the  great  danger  of  bring- 
ing the  flaming  torch  of  patriotism  to  the  inflammable  spirits 
of  youth  would  be  that  good  citizenship  might  sometimes  be 
spelled  "partisanship,"  and  the  distinction  between  our  party 
and  our  country's  good  might  be  obscured.  Especially  when 
some  great  moral  issue  was  before  us  and  advocated  more 
vigorously  by  one  party  than  another,  it  has  seemed  difficult 
for  some  to  distinguish  between  the  two.  Some  politicians 
have  taken  advantage  of  this  to  try  to  capture  the  whole  En- 
deavor movement  and  carry  it  ofif  into  the  hands  of  their 
party. 

One  of  the  most  unpleasant  and  bitter  controversies,  bit- 
ter on  one  side  at  least,  was  aroused  by  the  refusal  of  the 
Society  to  become  annexed  to  a  particular  political  party; 
and  some  good  and  able  men  felt  that  Endeavorers  were  not 
living  up  to  their  profession  unless  all  who  could  vote  voted 
in  one  way.  But  the  Society  weathered  this  storm,  and  it  has 
been  an  accepted  principle  that  it  cannot  be  made  the  tail  of 
any  political  kite. 

But  Endeavorers  have  not  been  content  with  simply  list- 
ening to  eloquent  addresses,  or  passing  empty  resolutions. 
In  hundreds  of  cases  they  have  exerted  a  potent  influence  on 
the  right  side  in  municipal,  State,  and  sometimes  national 
politics. 

As  is  natural,  since  intemperance  is  the  most 

The 

Society  flagrant  and  outstanding  sin  of  the  generation,  tem- 
Temperahce  P^rance  matters  have  received  especial  attention. 
Oftentimes  the  Endeavorers  have  lined  up  under 
different  political  banners  for  "no  license"  when  local-option 
laws  gave  them  a  chance  to  vote.  In  Boston  their  earnest 
efforts  recently  induced  one  of  the  largest  department  stores, 


500         christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

which  had  opened  a  liquor  department,  to  close  it  out  and 
advertise  widely  that  no  drop  of  liquor  should  ever  be  sold 
on  their  premises.     In  Newcastle-on-Tyne  in  England  a  simi- 
lar liquor  nuisance  has  just  been  abated  in  the  same  way. 
Many  other  like  instances  might  be  narrated.     But  the 


Dnnking-Fountain    Erected   by    Christian    Endeavorers. 

good-citizenship  committees  have  not  by  any  means,  confined 
their  efforts  to  opposition  of  this  sort,  but  have  been  positive 
and  constructive  forces  for  good,  in  establishing  drinking- 
fountains,  ice-water  tanks  in  public  places,  cofifee-rooms  and 


Citizenship    Endeavors. 


501 


temperance  cafes,  reading-rooms  and  amusement-rooms  for 
children  and  young  people,  who  might  otherwise  be  on  the 
street,  and  in  a  multitude  of  efforts  of  this  sort,  the  mere 
catalogue  of  which  is  too  long  to   record.     The  Cleveland 

y  Union  has  been  particularly  active  in  the  establishment  of 
drinking-fountains,  while  recently,  we  are  told,  at  the  inter- 
section of  three  busy  streets  in  Philadelphia,  the  Delaware 
branch  of  the  Philadelphia  Union  has  erected  a  beautiful 
fountain  of  Barre  granite,  where  even  dogs  as  well  as  horses 
may  get  a  cooling  drink,  while  a  supply  of  ice-water  is  kept 
constantly  in  the  pipes  to  refresh  the  thirsty  pedestrian,  driver, 
and  street-car  man. 

The  Ohio  Endeavorers  were  wide  awake  in  the  last  elec- 
tion* in  opposing  the  corrupt  politics  which  had  become  in- 
trenched in  that  State. 

No  president  was  ever  more  popu- 
lar than  the  present  occupantt  of  the 
White  House,  who  with  the  desire  of 
reform  has  cleaned  out  so  many  dark 
and  dirty  political  corners.  The  re- 
form governor  of  Missouri,  Governor 
Folk,  was  himself  an  Endeavorer  in 
his  earlier  days,  and  most  valiantly 
has  been  carrying  out  the  principles  of 

'  the  Society  in  city  and  State.  The 
Hon.  Samuel  B.  Capen,  who  is  not 
ashamed  to  wear  the  Christian  En- 
deavor badge,  and  who  was  the  chair- 
man of  the  comm_ittee  that  prepared 
for   the    greatest    Christian    Endeavor    Hon.  S.  b.  Capen,  ll.  d. 

Boston,    Mass. 

convention  ever  held,  has  been  a  prom- 
inent reformer  in   Boston  and  Massachusetts  State  politics, 


*  1905. 

t  President  Roosevelt. 


502  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

and  has  frequently  spoken  wise   and  eloquent  words   about 

Christian  citizenship  at  our  conventions,  local  and  national. 

Unjust  war  has  been  peculiarly  abhorrent  to 

Efforts  ,       ,  .  ^  .         ^^,     .     .         -P^     , 

for  the  latest  generation  or  active  Christian  bndeavor- 

Peace.  ^^^      With  joy  they  have  hailed  every  effort  in  the 

interests  of  peace  and  arbitration;  and,  when  the  historic 
commission  met  at  The  Hague,  the  American  representatives, 
we  are  told,  were  heartened  and  encouraged  in  their  efforts 
by  hundreds  of  congratulatory  telegrams  and  letters  from 
Christian  Endeavor  societies  and  conventions  all  over  the 
United  States. 

The  International  Congress  advocated  by  Mr.  Raymond 
L.  Bridgman,  and  favored  unanimously  by  both  houses  of  the 
Massachusetts  legislature  and  in  other  States  as  well,  has  es- 
pecially enlisted  the  sympathy  of  Christian  Endeavorers,  and 
many  thousands  of  petitions  like  the  following  have  been  sent 
to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States: 

To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  of  America'. — 

The  undersigned,  representing  the Christian  En- 
deavor Society  {town)    {State),   earnestly 

desiring  the  abolition  of  war  and  the  federation  of  the  nations, 
respectfully  petition  your  honorable  body,  as  has  already  been 
done  unanimously  by  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts,  to  au- 
thorize the  President  of  the  United  States  to  invite  the  govern- 
ments of  the  world  to  join  in  establishing,  in  whatever  way  they 
may  judge  expedient,  an  International  Congress,  to  meet  at 
stated  periods  to  deliberate  upon  questions  of  common  interest 
to  the  nations,  and  to  make  recommendations  thereon  to  the 
governments. 

President. 

Secretary. 

Mr.  Amos  R.  Wells  through  The  Christian  Endeavor 
World  has  been  particularly  active  in  arousing  interest  in 
this  forward  step  in  the  interests  of  universal  peace. 


Citizenship    Endeavors.  503 

Nearly  akin  to  this  effort  is  the  "International  Brother- 
hood," which  was  launched  by  the  Lincolnshire  and  Cheshire 
Federation  of  Christian  Endeavor  unions  of  Great  Britain, 
and  first  came  before  the  public  in  a  large  way  at  the  London 

convention  in  1904. 
national  Mr.  W.   H.   McKcllen,   the  secretary  of  the 

'Federation,  has  been  the  chief  worker  for  the  In- 
ternational Brotherhood,  has  enlisted  many  Endeavorers  in 
many  lands,  and  has  secured  the  active  interest  of  such  ardent 
lovers  of  peace  as  Mr.  W.  T.  Stead  and  others  of  like  char- 
acter. Here  are  the  principles  to  which  the  members  of  the 
International  Brotherhood  subscribe: 

"While  we  distinctively  recognize  the  fact  that  En- 
deavorers belong  to  all  political  parties,  and  adhere  to  our 
principle  that  the  Society  should  never  be  used  for  partisan 
political  purposes,  and  while  we  fully  acknowledge  the  right 
of  our  fellow  Endeavorers  who  honestly  differ  from  us  to  their 
own  views,  we,  the  undersigned,  agree  to  form  ourselves  into 
an  International  Brotherhood,  to  stand  for  peace  and  good 
will  among  all  the  nations  of  the  world. 

"We  believe  that  war,  except  for  the  defence  of  liberty  or 
the  relief  of  the  oppressed,  is  wrong,  unchristian,  and  bar- 
baric. 

"We  believe  in  the  settlement  of  international  disputes  by 
arbitration  rather  than  by  the  sword. 

"We  believe  in  exhausting  every  honorable  means  to  pre- 
vent war  between  nation  and  nation,  and  to  secure  the  bless- 
ings of  peace. 

"To  prevent  the  infamy  of  unjust  war,  and  to  extend  the 
principles  of  International  Brotherhood,  we  will  do  what  in 
us  lies. 

"We  will  pray  for  our  brotherhood  in  every  land,  and 
that  the  reign  of  the  Prince  of  peace  may  speedily  prevail 
throughout  the  world." 

To  show  that  the  spirit  of  Christian  citizenship  is  not 
confined  to  the  Endeavorers  of  America  we  need  only  recall 


504         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

how  the  Brazilian  Endeavorers  recently  at  their  convention 
gathered  around  the  great  monument  that  tells  of  their  na- 
tional independence,  and  sang  their  national  anthem;  how  the 
Chinese  Endeavorers  listened  with  rapt  attention  to  a  speech 
on  patriotism  at  their  last  national  convention  by  Dr.  Arthur 
H.  Smith,  an  address  which  captivated  the  visiting  mandarins 
as  well  as  the  Endeavorers ;  and  how  at  a  recent  South  African 
convention  the  "native  question,"  the  burning  good-citizen- 
ship topic  of  the  present  time,  was  discussed  by  the  president 
of  one  of  the  unions,  the  Rev.  J.  G.  Aldridge,  who  pertinently 
said: 

Christian  "It  is  a  matter  of  congratulation  that  the  Chris- 

Citizenship  ^-j^j^  Eudcavor  movement  is  essentially  a  movement 
South  for  the  promotion  of  good  citizenship.     ...     In 

Africa.  Christian  duty  we  are  bound  to  regard  the  native  as 

an  object  of  peculiar  care.  Do  not  be  misled  by  those  who 
contend  you  will  solve  the  problem  by  the  sjambok  and  by 
making  him  a  beast.  O,  no;  there  must  be  the  most  careful, 
far-sighted,  and  Christian  legislation.  And  here,  in  this  con- 
nection, I  would  impress  upon  you  as  Endeavorers  to  study 
well  the  problem  and  the  men  who  seek  your  suffrages.  I  in- 
sist upon  this,  because  to  my  mind  there  is  just  as  much  re- 
ligion in  the  way  in  which  you  cast  a  vote  at  an  election  as  there 
is  in  singing  a  hymn  upon  the  Sabbath." 

Every  country  has  its  peculiar  problems  and  its  easily 
besetting  sins.  In  Australia  it  is  gambling,  and  the  Austra- 
lian Endeavorers  have  naturally  taken  up  arms  against  this 
awful  evil.  A  recent  number  of  the  Australian  Christian  En- 
deavor Golden  Link  contains  a  scathing  article  on  the  national 
sin,  with  a  special  denunciation  of  the  city  government  of 
Hobart,  Tasmania,  which  has  legalized  and  protected  gam- 
bling or  the  gamblers,  who  received  many  a  hard  blow  when 
the  Endeavorers  met  in  that  fair  city. 

To  return  to  America,  an  interesting  development  of  the 
good-citizenship    spirit    is    shown    in    Massachusetts,    where 


Citizenship    Endeavors. 


505 


Patriots'  Day,  April  19,  the  anniversary  of  the  first  battle  of 
the  Revolutionary  War,  is  observed  by  the  great  district  unions 
of  the  State  with  a  Patriots'  Day  rally.  Formerly  Fast  Day 
was  observed  in  Massachusetts  at  about  this  time  of  year;  but 
^     .  ,  ,       the  good  old  Puritan  custom  fell  into  disuse,  and 

Patriots'  111 

Day  horse-races   and   the   opening  of  the  baseball   sea- 

^'  son  made  of  the  fast  a  farce.     In  some  measure, 

however,  Christian  Endeavor  has  redeemed  the  day,  and 
brought  it  back  to  its  original  intention.  For  these  Patriots' 
Day  rallies  are  held  in  every  part  of  the  State,  and  often  at- 
tract audiences  of  thousands  to  the  Endeavor  meetings,  from 
which  the  good-citizenship  idea  is 
never  absent. 

But  intelligent  good  citizenship 
needs  wisdom  as  well  as  fervor,  sober 
instruction  as  well  as  eloquent  orators; 
and  so  the  Christian  Endeavor  Civic 
Club  has  been  inaugurated.  Dr.  S.  B. 
Capen,  before  alluded  to,  has  been  ac- 
tive in  the  advocacy  of  this  feature  of 
Christian  Endeavor,  and  Professor 
Wells  and  the  president  of  the  United 
Society  have  prepared  a  constitution 
and  an  outline  of  the  work  for  all  who 
desire  them. 

The  Civic  Club  contemplates  a  campaign  of 
information,  instructing  the  members  in  regard  to 
the  way  they  are  governed,  their  city  charter,  their 
school  system,  their  poor-laws,  their  municipal 
platform  and  political  machinery.  They  promote  the  lyceum 
idea,  which  has  fallen  into  abeyance  of  late  years.  They  pro- 
pose "village-improvement"  as  well,  the  beautifying  of  parks, 
the  improvement  of  roads,  the  care  of  public  and  private 
premises;  all  these  and  numerous  other  enterprises  of  the 


Hon.  H.  B.  F.  Macfarland. 


The 

Christian 

Endeavor 

Civic 

Club. 


5o6  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

same  kind  come  within  the  purview  of  the  Civic  Club,  whose 
motto  is  Virgil's  words, 

"The  Noblest  Motive  Is  the  Public  Good." 

The  standing  committees  proposed  are  the  programme 
committee,  the  publicity  committee,  and  the  village-improve- 
ment committee,  whose  duties  can  be  guessed  from  their 
names. 

Though  the  Civic  Club  has  not  been  adopted  very 
largely  in  its  entirety,  some  features  it  proposes  have  been 
entered  upon  with  vigor  by  many  Christian  Endeavor  socie- 
ties and  unions;  and,  when  the  awards  were  made  at  the  last 
American  convention,  many  societies  received  honorable  men- 
tion for  good-citizenship  work  of  various  kinds. 

Hundreds  of  specific  instances  might  be  related  of  suc- 
cessful good-citizenship  effort;  and  many  an  Endeavorer, 
though  he  has  not  given  his  life  for  the  cause,  deserves  to  rank 
with  Robert  Ross,  of  Troy,  N.  Y.,  who,  while  doing  his  duty 
at  the  polls,  as  a  Christian  Endeavorer  should,  was  murdered 
in  cold  blood  by  Bat  Shea,  a  ward  heeler  of  the  lowest  type. 
But,  after  all,  it  is  the  spirit  which  has  been  infused  into  the 
movement  which  counts,  rather  than  these  isolated  cases  of 
reform,  of  heroism,  or  even  of  martyrdom,  however  many 
might  be  marshalled. 

Within  the  twenty-five  years'  span  of  the  Christian  En- 
deavor movement  probably  some  millions  of  young  men  have 
become  voters,  who  have  been  influenced  more  or  less  power- 
fully by  the  good-citizenship  ideals  of  the  Society.  They 
have  learned  and  acted  upon  the  truth  which  Dr.  Burrell  of 
New  York  thus  eloquently  voiced  at  a  great  national  conven- 
tion: 

"The  word  'Endeavor'  is  a  gloriously  significant  one.  It 
comes  from  two  French  words  which  mean  'on  guard'  or  'on 


Citizenship    Endeavors.  507 

duty'.  It  recalls  the  worn  legend  of  the  Roman  knight  at 
Pompeii,  who  stood  in  his  place  without  flinching  while  the 
multitudes  were  flying  from  the  molten  stream  of  death  which 
the  great  mountain  belched  forth,  faithful  among  the  fearful, 
on  duty  to  the  last.  That  is  what  it  means  to  be  a  true  En- 
deavorer.  First  of  all,  it  devolves  upon  us  to  guard  the  rights 
of  citizenship  and  the  purity  of  the  franchise;  that  is,  to  be  on 
guard  at  the  polls. 

"  'There  is  a  weapon  better  yet, 

And  stronger  than  the  bayonet, 

A  weapon  that  comes  down  as  still 
As  snowflakes  fall  upon  the  sod; 

But  executes  a  freeman's  will 

As  lightning  does  the  will  of  God.'  " 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 
KINDLING  MISSIONARY  FIRES. 

THESE  FIRES  HAVE  BEEN  KINDLED  AT  HOME  BY  MISSION- 
ARY MEETINGS  AND  CONVENTIONS,  AND  BY  PROMOT- 
ING SYSTEMATIC  GIVING,  WHILE  ABROAD  THE  SOCIETY 
HAS  DONE  ITS  WORK  BY  TRAINING  THE  CONVERTS  IN 
MISSION  FIELDS   FOR  CHRIST  AND   HIS  CHURCH. 

"  Endeavor    is    a    good    thing.     Christian    Endeavor    is    a 
better  thing;  Young  People's  Christian  Endeavor  is  best  of  all. 
"  What    should    be    the    greatest    object    of    Christian    En- 
deavor?    Surely   the  evangelization   of   the  world." 

Eugene  Stock, 
Editorial  Secretary  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society  of  Eng- 
land. 

"  This  Christian  Endeavor  army  is  the  grandest  the  v^^orld 
has  ever  seen.  It  speaks  of  the  greatest  movement  of  this 
generation,  and  is  rounding  out  magnificently  this  great  mis- 
sionary century.  With  its  more  than  two  millions  of  members 
it  is  belting  the  world  with  its  light  and  with  the  enthusiasm 
of  its  service  for  Christ.  And  yet  we  are  only  two  years  in 
our  teens,  and  we  have  only  just  begun  to  live  and  to  grow. 
We  have  no  less  a  purpose  than  to  conquer  this  whole  world 

I  for  God  and  truth." 

Hon.  S.  B.   Capen,  LL.D., 

'  at  the  Boston   Convention,   1895. 

HE  missionary  spirit  has  never  been  foreign  to  the 
Christian  Endeavor  spirit.  How  could  it  be? 
In  one  respect  the  two  mean  the  same  thing. 
They  are  but  different  ways  of  fulfilling  our 
Lord's  last  commands. 
But  more  than  this,  the  first  society  of  Christian  En- 
deavor was  born  in  a  missionary  as  well  as  a  revival  atmos- 

508 


Kindling  Missionary  Fires. 


509 


510  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

phere.  The  backbone  of  the  first  society,  so  to  speak,  was  the 
Mizpah  Mission  Circle,  which  was  merged  into  it,  and  which 
continued  in  its  larger  field  and  scope  to  do  no  less,  but  even 
more,  for  distinctly  missionary  causes,  as  was  naturally  to  be 
expected;  for  instead  of  forty  boys  and  girls  working  for  mis- 
sions there  were  soon  a  hundred  boys  and  girls  and  young 
men  working  for  missions. 

Almost  from  the  beginning  missionary  themes  were  dis- 
cussed in  the  conventions,  and  a  missionary  committee  was  one 
of  the  first  to  be  established  in  most  societies,  after  the  look- 
out, the  prayer-meeting,  and  the  social  committees. 

Moreover,  as  has  already  been  seen,  the  Society  very 
early  began  to  find  its  way  into  missionary  lands.  Before 
England  heard  of  it,  or  Australia,  and  long  before  the  Chris- 
tian countries  of  continental  Europe  ever  thought  of  having 
an  Endeavor  society,  one  began  to  flourish  in  China,  and  an- 
other in  India,  and  another  in  Hawaii.  The  knowledge  of 
these  brothers  and  sisters  in  distant  lands  kindled  the  imagina- 
tions of  Endeavorers  at  home,  and  kindled  many  missionary 
fires  as  well. 

In  one  of  the  earliest  of  the  large  conventions,  "Phila- 
delphia, '89,"  the  missionary  idea  received  a  remarkable  stim- 
ulus. This  convention  numbered  only  some  eight  thousand  in 
attendance,  and  was  small  as  compared  with  more  recent  gath- 
erings, but  The  Congregationalist  declared  that  it  was  "the 
largest  delegate  religious  assembly  that  Christendom  has  yet 
witnessed,  and  as  such  is  a  noteworthy  event." 

A  still  more  noteworthy  feature  of  the  convention  was 
the  impetus  given  to  it  by  the  missionary  spirit.  Dr.  Arthur 
T.  Pierson,  Dr.  O.  P.  Giflord,  Mr.  Robert  P. 
Worfd  Wilder,  of  India,  and  others  aroused  much  enthu- 

Christ."  ^^^^"^  ^^  ^^^y  talked  of  the  world  for  Christ,  and 
Christ  for  the  world.  "Some  one  has  said,"  said 
Mr.  Wilder,  "that  the  majority  of  us  are  not  anti-missionary 


Citizenship  Endeavors. 


Sii 


but  o-mfssionary.  I  hope  there  is  no  one  before  me  who  be- 
longs to  the  o-missionary  class.  My  prayer  is  the  prayer  of 
the  stroke  of  the  Cambridge  University  boat.  He  prayed  that 
there  might  be  such  an  outlet  of  men  and  money  from  his 
country  that  it  would  lead  to  an  inlet  of  blessing  from  heaven. 
The  outlet  is  coming." 

Mr.  Wilder's  prediction  was  in  a  large  measure  fulfilled. 


German  Christian  Endeavor  Officers. 

Secretary   Blecher   is   sitting   at   the  left   of  the  table,   and   Missionary 

Hugenschmidt,  of  the  Caroline  Islands,  is  standing  behind  him. 

Student  volunteers  began  to  multiply  still  more  rapidly  in 
all  parts  of  the  country,  and  money  began  to  flow  from  the 
pockets  of  young  people  as  never  before. 

Mr.  Stephen  L.  Mershon  at  this  convention  proposed  a 
missionary  problem,  which  has  practically  been  worked  out 
since  in  a  multitude  of  young  people's  societies. 


512  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

^'Information  +  consecration  —  selfishness  X  by  activity 
and  -f-  by  every  individual  Christian  Endeavor  =  successful 
missionary  effort." 

It  was  at  the  convention  in  Montreal,  after  the  return  of 
the  president  of  the  United  Society  from  his  first  journey 
around  the  world,  that  he  proposed  a  special  effort  for  pro- 
portionate and  systematic  giving  to  missions,  which  was  after- 
wards more  fully  organized  and  carried  out  in  the  Tenth 
Legion  and  the  Macedonian  Phalanx.  Here  is  a  paragraph 
from  that  address,  which  seems  to  have  borne  some  fruit: 

"May  it  not  be  the  glad  mission  of  the  Christian  Endeavor 
Society  to  introduce  a  new  era  of  benevolence,  not  to  perpetu- 
ate the  grudging  dole  that  has  been  wrung  from  tight  fists  in 
Proprotion=  ^^^  P^^^'  ^  meagre  offering  that  will  never  evan- 
ate  and  gelize  the  world,  but  to  bring  in  an  era  of  propor- 
Sivhi'"^*'^  tionate  and  systematic  giving  as  God  hath  pros- 
pered us? 

"Who  will  join  me  this  year  in  a  pledge  of  proportionate 
giving  of  at  least  one-tenth  of  what  God  may  give  us?  Do 
you  want  a  larger  mission,  Christian  Endeavorers?  Do  you 
want  a  new  crusade?  Here  it  is.  Could  anything  be  larger? 
It  reaches  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  It  embraces  every  nation 
and  people  and  kindred  and  tribe.  It  means  salvation,  yours 
as  well  as  theirs.  It  means  the  filling  of  our  missionary  treas- 
uries ;  for  we  will  always  give,  as  we  have  done,  through  our 
own  wisely  directed  denominational  channels.  It  means  that 
no  worthy  cause  at  home  or  abroad  will  suffer.  In  time,  as 
we  grow  richer  and  more  numerous,  it  will  mean  thousands 
where  now  there  are  hundreds,  and  millions  where  now  are 
given  thousands.  It  means  obedience  to  our  Lord's  last  com- 
mand. It  means  that  the  twentieth  century  will  usher  in  the 
glad  era  of  an  evangelized  world  which  has  heard  in  its  remot- 
est corners  the  gospel  message." 

In  1893-94  it  was  found  that  the  societies  gave  in  benevo- 
lence $250,000,  much  of  it  going  to  the  cause  of  missions  at 
home  and  abroad.     I  do  not  mean  to  imply  that  this  was  the 


Kindling  Missionary  Fires. 


513 


33 


514  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

result  of  the  suggestion  above  made,  for  the  cause  of  mission- 
ary enthusiasm  had  been  steadily  rising,  and  doubtless  such 
results  would  have  come  in  any  event;  but  from  this  time  sys- 
tematic giving  was  taken  up  as  a  regular  and  important  fea- 
ture of  Christian  Endeavor  work.  Records  of  half  a  million 
of  dollars  each  year  given  by  the  Endeavorers  are  now  re- 
ceived, though  reports  in  regard  to  this  matter  are  obtained 
from  less  than  a  quarter  of  the  societies  in  the  world,  and  it  is 
altogether  probable  that  at  .least  a  million  dollars  each  year 
are  contributed  by  the  Endeavor  societies  for  various  good 
causes,  and  "a  million  dollars  for  missions"  was  proposed  as 
the  goal  at  the  last  convention  at  Baltimore. 

To  be  sure,  this  sum  does  not  all  find  its  way  to  the  mis- 
sion field,  either  at  home  or  abroad;  for  what  shall  be  done 
with  the  gifts  of  Endeavorers  largely  depends  upon  the  pastor 
and  the  church  with  which  the  society  is  connected. 
the^"^^  I^  their  missionary  zeal  is  large,  the  money  is  sent 

Money  away  from  home.     If  their  own  needs,  either  reallv 

Goes.  -^  _  '  -^ 

or  in  imagination,  exceed  the  needs  of  the  mission 
field,  the  money  is  used  for  new  hymn-books  or  pew-cushions 
or  a  church  spire,  or  for  painting  the  walls  of  the  meeting- 
house; and  oftkn  the  burden  of  raising  money  to  pay  the  last 
bills  for  some  home  expenditure  is  put  upon  the  young  people's 
society,  as  sometimes  it  may  well  be,  and  is  gladly  assumed  by 
them.  However,  though  much  of  the  money  they  raise,  in 
accordance  with  the  wishes  of  pastor  and  church,  may  be  used 
at  home,  the  benevolences  of  young  people  for  distinctively 
missionary  work  have  been  very  largely  increased.  Special 
pains  were  taken  not  long  since,  by  examining  the  records  ot 
money  received  in  the  past  in  many  denominations  as  com- 
pared with  the  money  received  from  young  people's  sources 
to-day;  and  it  was  found  that  there  had  been  a  very  large  in- 
crease, and  that  the  money  given  by  young  people  was  almost 
entirely  an  "extra  asset"  to  the  boards. 


Kindling   Missionary    Fires.  515 

Of  late  years  these  boards  have  wisely  assigned  to  their 
Christian  Endeavorers  definite  fields  or  missionaries,  or  have 
given  them  churches  to  build  on  the  frontier  of  our  own  coun- 
try, or  missionary  boats  to  build,  which  shall  ply  on  distant 
foreign  rivers,  as  has  been  recorded  in  other  chapters  of  this 
history.  Dr.  A.  A.  Fulton,  of  the  Presbyterian  mission  of 
Canton,  did  much  good  on  two  different  furloughs  in  America, 
in  showing  the  Christian  Endeavorers  that,  however 
Two=  small  their  means,  they  could  do  something,   and 

af"  ^"  that  there  were  few  who  could  not  give  the  value 

Week  Qf  ^^  ordinary  postage-stamp   each  week  for  the 

spread  of  the  gospel.  The  "two-cents-a-week 
plan"  was  adopted  by  many  Endeavor  societies;  and,  though 
it  was  sneered  at  by  some  who  ought  to  have  encouraged  it,  as 
an  unworthy  limit  to  gifts  for  the  salvation  of  the  world,  yet, 
until  all  Christians,  old  and  young,  rich  and  poor,  come  up 
to  at  least  half  this  limit  in  the  course  of  the  year,  in  the 
writer's  opinion  it  is'  a  plan  worthy  to  be  urged  upon  young 
people. 

So  far  I  have  spoken  of  the  missionary  spirit  as  aroused 
among  the  Endeavorers  at  home,  and  of  the  reflex  influence 
upon  their  own  lives;  but  what  about  Christian  Endeavor  in 
missionary  lands  themselves?  The  chapters  of  this  history 
that  relate  to  Asia  and  Africa  and  some  of  the  islands  of  the 
sea  largely  tell  this  story.  The  Society  has  gone  wherever 
the  missionaries  have  gone,  and  it  has  proved  their  loyal,  hum- 
ble handmaid.  A  volume  of  testimonies,  sufficient  to  fill  every 
page  of  this  history,  has  been  received  from  missionary  work- 
ers in  all  lands.  I  can  give  but  a  few  specimens  from  their 
glowing  words.  They  represent  the  South  Sea  Islands,  China, 
India,  and  papal  Europe. 

The  Rev.  J.  E.  Newell,  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury a  leading  missionary  in  the  South  Seas,  after  fifteen  years 
of  experience  of  the  Society  in  Samoa,  says: 


5i6 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


''Christian  Endeavor  in  Samoa  and  its  related  islands 
stands  for  a  requickening  of  faith  in  the  living  Christ,  and  a 
fresh  realization  of  the  strenuousness  of  the  Christian  life. 
The  first  and  immediate  outcome  of  the  self-consecration 
which  the  pledge  demanded,  and  of  which  it  was  the  just  and 
adequate  occasion,  was  the  joyous  and  hearty  acceptance  of  the 
authority  of  Christ  to  claim  His  people  for  any  and  every  serv- 
ice His  work  required  in  the  hard  places  of  the  great  mission 
field.     In  Samoa,  at  the  Malua  Institution,  the  Christian  En- 


Christian  Endeavor  Society,  Girls'  Orphanage,  Marsovan,  Turkey  in  Asia. 

deavor  pledge  was  God's  instrument  for  the  effectual  accom- 
plishment of  this  great  and  gracious  work." 


No  missionary  of  modern  times  has  been  more  honored 
and  beloved  than  the  late  gifted  Mrs.  Alice  Gordon  Gulick, 
of  Spain,  who  introduced  the  Society  into  the  Institute  Inter- 
nacional  of  Madrid,  and,  through  the  girls  there  educated, 
into  the  whole  kingdom. 


Kindling    Missionary  Fires.  517 

"The  influence  of  the  principles  of  the  Society 
Testimony  has  been  great  upon  those  who  have  hitherto  had 
of  Mis=         little  or  no  opportunity  for  the  manifestation  of  re- 

sionanes.         , .     .  f  ^      .  ^  , 

ligious  impulses  m  active  work. 
"These  girls   go  to  their  homes   ready  to  share  in   the 
church-work,  and  spend  their  vacations  in  repeating  what  they 
have  learned  for  the  benefit  of  crowds  attracted  by  the  nov- 
elty of  meetings  conducted  by  young  women." 

Says  the  Rev.  H.  G.  C.  Hallock,  a  well-known  Presby- 
terian missionary  of  China: 

"As  to  the  Chinese  country  society,  the  belief  has  been 
strengthened  that  it  is  just  the  thing  for  little,  struggling  com- 
munities where  they  cannot  have  a  pastor,  but  where  they  have 
to  carry  on  the  work  by  themselves.  At  its  organization  I 
could  see  that  the  idea  and  aim  of  the  Society  put  new  energy 
and  ambition  into  their  faces.  The  Chinese  Christians,  as  do 
we,  like  to  be  of  use.  They  rejoice  to  feel  that  the  work  and 
meetings  are  their  own,  and  so  go  to  work  with  new  zeal." 

The  following  is  the  testimony  of  the  Rev.  William  Carey, 
of  Bengal,  to  whose  work  and  noble  ancestry  we  have  already 
alluded: 

"I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  Christian  Endeavor  is 
the  brightest  and  best  thing  God  has  sent  us  for  the  young  life 
of  the  Indian  church.  Given  the  wise  and  sympathetic  guid- 
ance of  the  missionary,  and  it  speedily  becomes,  in  any  district, 
a  most  effective  lever  for  good. 

"  'It  has  stimulated  the  spiritual  life  of  all  our  members.' 
'It  contributes  more  than  anything  else  to  the  growth  of  Chris- 
tians in  knowledge  and  love  and  consecration  to  Christ's  serv- 
ice.' Tt  is  the  centre  of  the  spiritual  activities  of  the  college.' 
'It  has  done  many  good  works  among  the  churches.' 

"These  are  some  of  the  testimonies  of  my  brethren  in  In- 
dia, recently  received,  and  covering  vernacular  work  in  very 
differing  conditions.  From  personal  knowledge  I  am  able  to 
indorse  them  all." 


5i8  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

One  of  the  great  missions  of  Christian  Endeavor  on  the 
foreign  field  is  found  in  its  work,  as  Mr.  Hallock  intimates, 
in  scattered  and  isolated  communities  of  Christians,  where 

there  are  too  few  for  a  resident 
missionary,    for   a   church,    or 
even    for   a   native   evangelist, 
but  where  the  Christians  can 
be  joined  together  by  the  sim- 
ple   consecration    and    obliga- 
tions of  the  Endeavor  Society, 
and   can    thus   keep    alive    the 
sparks  of  divine   life   in  their 
own  hearts.     Such  a  work  has 
been  successfully  tried  in  many 
mission    fields    in    China    and 
India  and  in  the  island  world. 
In    the    Ningpo    Presbyterian 
mission,  for  instance,  for  some 
years  such  little  groups  of  En- 
deavorers  have  come  together 
annually  for  their  convention, 
coming  down  the  river  on  their  house-boats,  some- 
times a  journey  of  a  week  or  more   (especially  in 
getting  back  up  the  stream)  ;  they  have  lived  on 
their  house-boats,  paid  their  own  expenses  like  all 
self-respecting  Christian  Endeavorers,  blown  into 
a  blaze  the  spark  of  religious  enthusiasm  in  their  hearts,  and 
gone  back  to  their  isolated  villages,  where  perhaps  only  two 
or  three  Christians  live,  to  stand  firm  in  the  swelling  tide  of 
heathen  corruption,  and  to  light  the  dark  region  with  their 
little  torches. 

Mrs.  Clark,  in  one  of  her  convention  addresses,  has  thus 
described  what  she  saw  of  the  use  of  Christian  Endeavor  gifts 
in  mission  lands: 


Beioke  and  After. 
Before. 


Christian 

Endeavor 

in 

Isolated 

Conimun= 

ities  of 

Christians 


Kindling  Missionary  Fires. 


519 


"One  of  the  pleasures  of  travelling  in  mission  lands  has 
been  the  joy  of  seeing  the  many  ways -in  which  Christian  En- 
deavor is  helping  missionary  work.  I  have  travelled  many 
miles  up  one  of  China's  great  rivers  in  a  Christian  Endeavor 
boat,  given  for  a  missionary's  service  by  Endeavorers  in  the 
home  land;  I  have  had  my  picture  taken  by  Endeavor  cameras 
more  times  than  I  like  to  think  of;  I  have  seen  Endeavor  ban- 
dages applied  to  suffering  heathen  and  Christians  in  mission- 
ary hospitals;  I  have  listened  to  music  from  Christian  En- 
deavor organs,  and  have  travelled  in  Christian  Endeavor  vehi- 
cles of  different  kinds,  and  have  heard  missionary  addresses  in 
crowded  market-places  of  heathen  cities,  illustrated  by  pic- 
tures from  Christian  Endeavor  magic  lanterns ;  and  all  of  these 
things,  and  many  others  that  might  be  spoken  of,  are  hearten- 
ing reminders  to  the  missionaries  whom  they  serve  and  of  the 
interest  and  enthusiasm  of  the  Endeavorers  in  the  home  lands 
who  gave  them." 

How  blessed  are  the  in- 
fluences that  travel  back  and 
forth  across  every  sea,  between 
the  home  Endeavorers  and 
those  in  mission  lands!  They 
are  like  the  warp  and  woof 
made  by  the  fast-flying  shut- 
tles in  some  delicate  and  beau- 
tiful fabric.  Whether  the  En- 
deavorers at  home  receive 
more  blessings  than  their 
brothers  and  sisters  abroad,  or 
the  Endeavorers  in  foreign 
lands  receive  more  in  gifts  and 
sympathy  from  their  comrades 
in    the    so-called    "home 

churches,"   it  is   difl!icult  to  de-  Before  and  After. 

termine ;  but  we  can  at  least  all 

sing  with  a  new  and  larger  meaning  every  year, 


520  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands, 

"We  work  together,  if  far  apart; 
Loyal  and  strong  is  each  loving  heart; 
One  is  our  Master,  Christ,  the  Lord, 
And  we  catch  the  sound  of  His  guiding  word 
Let  us  follow  on  where  He  leads  the  way 
Till  we  stand  together  in  perfect  day." 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR  AND  THE  DEEPER 
CHRISTIAN  LIFE. 

THE  FUNDAMENTAL  PURPOSE  OF  THE  SOCIETY  FROM 
THE  BEGINNING,  MORE  FULLY  DEVELOPED  BY  THE 
CONVENTION  CONSECRATION-MEETINGS,  THE  "QUIET 
HOUR,"  AND  THE  "PRACTICE  OF  THE  PRESENCE  OF 
GOD  "  BY  MANY  ENDEAVORERS,  IS  HEREIN  SET  FORTH. 

"  No  movement,  however  big,  no  Christian,  however  gifted, 
can  maintain  spiritual  hfe  and  spiritual  strength  apart  from 
prayer  and  pondering  the  Word  of  God." 

Rev.  James  Mursell,  Adelaide,  South  Australia. 
"  We  are  placed  here  to  do  something  for  our  God.  Like 
Christ,  or  rather  with  Christ,  we  are  to  redeem  the  world. 
We  live  to  bring  salvation.  It  may  be  a  cup  of  cold  water 
to  a  thirsty  one;  it  may  be  a  word  of  kindness;  it  may  be  a 
leading,  a  pointing  to  God  of  some  doubting  one.  It  may  be 
some  great  work  of  public  reformation.  May  God  give  us 
grace  to  know  Him  better,  to  give  ourselves  more  absolutely 
to  Him,  to  serve  Him  better  than  we  ever  have  before." 

Rev.  Floyd  W.  Tomkins,  L.  T.  D., 
at  the  Nashville  Convention. 

'ERE  and  there  throughout  this  history,  in  many  of 
its  chapters,  are  found  allusions  more  or  less  ex- 
tended  to   the   deeper   things   of    Christian    En- 
deavor.    The     consecration-meeting,     the     early 
morning     prayer-meeting,     the     "Quiet     Hour," 
which  has  enrolled  tens  of  thousands,  all  speak  of  this  charac- 
teristic without  which  the  Society  could  not  exist,  without 
which  its  history  would  not  be  worth  recording. 

A  popular  author  has  said  that  "in  the  most  eminent 

521 


522         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

Christian  there  is  always  a  touch  of  mysticism."  This  is  also 
true  of  any  organization  that  has  in  it  vitality  and  spiritual 
vigor.  Because  of  this  element,  and  this  alone,  some  books 
have  persisted  throughout  all  the  centuries,  and  have  come 
down  to  us  as  fresh  and  unhackneyed  as  ever,  such  as  Thomas 
a  Kempis,  Jeremy  Taylor's  "Holy  Living"  and  "Holy  Dy- 
ing," the  thoughts  of  the  great  mystic  and  reformer,  John 
Tauler,  of  Strasburg;  and  the  little  volume  concerning  Brother 
Lawrence,  the  French  friar,  who  practised  the  presence  of 
God,  and  whose  fragmentary  letters  and  conversations  have 
been  printed  and  reprinted  over  and  over  again  in  many  lan- 
guages, and  in  almost  as  many  editions  as  the  number  of  years 
that  have  elapsed  since  his  death. 

The  works  of  Andrew  Murray  and  of  F.  B.  Meyer,  prac- 
tical men  as  they  are,  promoting  every  good  enterprise  that 
makes  for  the  advancement  of  the  Kingdom,  are  instinct  with 
this  quality,  and  will  give  them  readers  for  centuries  after 
they  have  joined  the  majority. 

Let  us  thank  God  devoutly  that  this  element  has  been 
provided  for  in  the  plans  and  activities  of  Christian  En- 
deavor. Almost  of  necessity  it  would  seem  that  this  element 
inhered  in  an  organization  that  made  so  much  of  the  prayer- 
meeting,  that  insisted  on  private  prayer  and  Bible-reading, 
and  that  every  month  enjoyed  a  consecration-meeting. 

Very  early  indeed  in  the  history  of  the  Society 
First  was   the   importance  of   a   life   that  was   hid  with 

Endeavor  Christ  in  God  made  evident.  One  of  the  earliest 
Prayer=         conventions  was  held  at  Saratoga  Springs,  N.  Y. 

Meeting.  o  ^        &  ' 

It  was  not  great  in  numbers,  but  it  was  great  iji 
spiritual  power.  The  leaders  of  the  Society  ventured  to  ap- 
point an  early  morning  prayer-meeting  at  six  o'clock  on  the 
second  day  of  the  convention.  Many  laughed  at  the  idea. 
They  said  you  could  not  get  young  people  to  attend  such  a 
meeting.     They  loved  their  beds  too  well.     They  would  be 


The  Deeper  Christian  Life. 


523 


Prominent  Christian   Endeavor  Evangelists. 


Rev    Andrew  Murray,  Rev.  J.  Wilbur  Chapman,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

South  Africa.  „     New   York 

The  Late  Rev.   Clarence  E.  Eberman.  Rev.   F.   B    Meyer, 

London. 


524         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

up  late  the  night  before,  and  could  not  reasonably  be  expected 
to  attend  a  sunrise  prayer-meeting.  The  sexton  of  the  church 
where  the  meeting  was  to  be  held  shared  these  views.  The 
night  before  the  meeting,  when  asked  to  have  the  chapel  ready, 
he  handed  the  writer  the  keys,  saying:  "You  can  open  the 
door  yourself,  but  there  won't  be  anybody  there.  You  may 
depend  on  that." 

The  writer  was  inclined  to  think  that  perhaps  the  sexton 
might  be  right,  and  the  next  morning  he  was  two  or  three 
minutes  late  in  reaching  the  church.  What  was  his  surprise 
to  find  the  sidewalk  in  front  of  the  church  filled  with  a  com- 
pany of  eager  Endeavorers,  who  that  morning  had  not  given 
"sleep  to  their  eyes  or  slumber  to  their  eyelids,"  but  had  left 
their  beds  for  the  sake  of  attending  the  first  Christian  En- 
deavor sunrise  prayer-meeting.  This  was  one  of  the  best  ever 
held,  and,  so  full  of  spiritual  power  was  it,  and  so  crowded 
was  the  large  vestry,  that  the  next  morning  the  meeting  was 
held  in  the  main  auditorium  of  the  church,  which  seated  some 
fifteen  hundred  people. 

Since  then  the  early  meeting  has  been  a  feature  of  thou- 
sands of  Christian  Endeavor  rallies  and  conventions,  though 
sometimes  it  is  merged  with  the  Quiet  Hour  service  which  is 
held  just  after  the  breakfast-hour,  and  before  the  regular  ses- 
sions of  the  convention  begin. 

In  some  unions  these  early  meetings  have  become  regular 
features  for  Easter  morning  or  Christmas  or  Thanksgiving 
Day,  and  in  winter  they  become  pre-sunrise  meetings. 

One  great  feature  of  the  Society  in  the  devel- 
Dfceper  opmcnt  of  the  deeper  Christian  life  has  doubtless 
JnThe  ^^^n  the  consecration-meeting.     Its  methods  are  de- 

consecration scribed  in  another  chapter,  and  it  need  only  be  said 
here  that  its  deepest  purpose  is,  as  its  name  indicates, 
to  lead  the  young  soul  to  surrender  itself  wholly  to  God, 
which  is  the  very  essence  of  consecration.     To  be  sure,  the 


The    Deeper   Christian    Life.  525 

meeting  may  sometimes  become  formal  and  perfunctory,  but 
there  is  no  need  of  such  a  result.  It  may  always  be  kept,  as 
it  is  in  the  great  majority  of  societies,  a  vital  and  living  thing 
that  leads  the  young  Christian  to  look  back  upon  the  past 
month  and  to  devote  the  new  month  more  unreservedly  to  the 
Master's  service.  Testimony  to  the  value  of  this  meeting  has 
been  given  by  a  multitude  of  Endeavorers  and  their  pastors 
and  leaders  in  many  lands. 

Undoubtedly  the  effort  that  has  done  most  to  impress  the 
deepest  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God  upon  the  Christian  En- 
deavor movement  is  the  so-called  "Quiet  Hour."  It  has  been 
taken  up  with  enthusiasm  by  hundreds  of  most  earnest  En- 
^.  deavorers.     A  convention  is  scarcely  complete  with- 

"  Quiet  out  its  "Quiet  Hours,"  and  many  local  unions  of  in- 
dividual societies  have  "Quiet-Hour  committees" 
to  interest  those  who  have  known  or  thought  little  about  this 
subject  in  the  things  which  "eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard, 
neither  have  entered  into  the  heart  of  man." 

Because  there  may  be  some  who  read  these  pages  who  may 
not  understand  the  inner  meaning  of  the  Quiet  Hour,  or  what 
the  old  writers  understand  by  "practising  the  presence  of 
God,"  the  writer  may  be  pardoned  for  quoting  some  para- 
graphs from  a  little  volume  *  that  he  once  wrote  upon  this 
subject,  which  has  had  a  considerable  circulation.  In  these 
paragraphs  he  tries  to  tell  his  young  friends  just  how  the  Quiet 
Hour  may  be  spent. 

"Our  Bible  is  open,  perhaps  to  the  familiar  passage  which 
reveals  the  wondrous  truth  that  man  dwells  in  God,  and  God 
in  man,  as  John  records  it. 

"Seek  to  realize  this  stupendous  fact,  for  all  Scripture  is 
a  lie  if  this  is  not  a  fact. 

"Say  to  yourself  over  and  over  again:  'GOD  IS  HERE. 
God  is  here.  God  is  within  me.  I  am  His  child.  God 
IS  MY  Father.' 

*  "  The  Great  Secret." 


526  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

"One  of  these  thoughts  is  soul-food  enough  for  one  day. 
Live  on  it  throughout  that  day,  whenever  in  the  midst  of  daily 
duties  an  unoccupied  moment  enables  you  to  resort  to  it. 

"The  next  morning,  for  a  half-hour's  meditation,  take 
another  of  these  biblical  truths.  It  may  aid  the  sluggish  spirit 
at  first  to  write  out  these  short  but  wondrous  sentences  in  large 
capitals: 

"'GOD  IS  HERE.' 

"T  AM  GOD'S  CHILD.' 

"  T  AM  IN  MY  FATHER'S  PRESENCE.' 

Practising  "But  We  shall  not  always  need  the  written  or 

Presence  printed  Sentence,  for  it  will  soon  be  engraved  on  our 
of  souls  and  become  part  of  our  lives. 

^^^'  "Little  by  little  we  shall  go  on  to  appreciate  by 

such  communion  and  meditation  the  deep  truths  of  God's 
incarnation  in  Jesus  Christ,  of  the  Holy  Spirit's  indwelling, 
enlightening,  witnessing,  comforting  power.  But  it  will  all 
be  God,  God  within  and  God  without,  God  here,  God  every- 
where, God  in  His  word,  in  His  world,  in  history,  in  us.  We 
have  come  to  realize,  to  practise  (there  is  no  other  word  so 
good)  the  presence  of  God.  We  look  forward  to  the  hour  of 
this  practice  with  supreme  delight.  It  is  refreshment,  food, 
drink,  clothing,  health  to  our  soul. 

"Gradually  the  influence  of  the  hour  goes  with  us  through 
the  day,  every  sorrow  is  sweetened,  every  joy  doubled,  every 
care  is  lightened,  by  His  presence.  Service  becomes  sweet, 
difficult  tasks  easy.  Every  hour  has  its  song.  Life  becomes 
worth  living." 

1  It  must  not  be  thought  that  the  insistence  on  the?e  deeper 
, things  of  the  Christian  life  has  weakened  the  interest  of  En- 
deavorers  in  practical  activities.  This  whole  volume  is  a 
refutation  of  such  a  statement.  The  chapters  on  "Practical 
Endeavors"  and  "Heroic  Endeavor,"  on  methods  and  ways 
and  means,  on  philanthropies  and  benevolences,  on  fresh-air 
outings  and  social  gatherings;  the  story  of  Christian  Endeavor 
on  the  seas  and  in  the  prisons,  in  missionary  lands  and  in  a 


The    Deeper  Christian    Life.  527 

score  of  unexpected  places,  all  show  that  the  idea  of  consecra- 
influence  ^^°"  ^^^  ^^  whole-hearted  surrender  and  of  deep 
on  religious  purpose  only  give  vitality  to  all  these  en- 

Endeav=  deavors.  This  is  the  power-house  where  is  gen- 
**^*'  erated  the  energy  that  drives  all  the  wheels.     Here 

is  the  fountainhead  of  the  many  streams  that  make  glad  the 
city  of  our  God.  To  be  "saintly  toward  the  heavens"  is  not 
to  be  "sickly  toward  the  earth,"  as  all  the  twenty-five  years  of 
Christian  Endeavor  have  proved.  There  are  few  shallower 
sneerers  than  those  who  deride  the  emphasis  put  on  the  prayer- 
meeting  and  the  consecration-service  and  the  Quiet  Hour,  and 
who  are  forever  asking  the  young  people  to  do  rather  than  to 
be. 

The  most  eminent  Christians  have  never  yet  realized  the 
power  which  may  be  theirs  when  they  are  filled  with  the 
Spirit.  To  dwell  upon  these  vast  possibilities,  to  open  up 
the  unseen  world  to  the  young  Christians,  to  show  them  what 
a  man  may  become  when  God  strengthens  him  and  inspires 
him,  this  is  one  of  the  great  duties  of  any  worthy  young 
people's  society.  Speaking  of  these  highest  attainments  which 
are  open  even  to  the  average  young  Christian,  the  Rev.  James 
Mursell,  formerly  of  Edinburgh,  but  now  of  Adelaide,  who 
has  often  spoken  most  helpfully  on  this  subject,  says  in  a 
convention  address: 

"These  things  are  possible  for  you  and  me  to-night. 
Now.  Will  you  claim  this  gift?  Will  you  dare  to  believe 
that,  though  you  hear  no  rushing  mighty  wind,  and  see  no 
tongues  of  fire,  God  has  bestowed  it,  and  on  you? 

"  'Lord,  we  ask  it,  hardly  knowing 
What  this  wondrous  gift  may  be,' 

but  sure  of  this,  that  for  all  those  to  whom  that  holy  presence 
comes  will  shine  the  vision  of  the  Christ  whom  dying  Stephen 
saw  at  God's  right  hand,  and  in  them  will  be  wrought  the 
readiness  to  go  wherever  He  appoints ;  that  dares  to  die,  if 


528         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

dying  we  may  die  to  Him,  and  help  His  purpose  on ;  and  in  all, 
and  through  all,  and  above  all,  the  assurance  which  no  delay 
can  darken,  and  no  apparent  failure  can  dismay,  that  our  poor 
lives  and  our  broken  service  have  been  caught  up  into  the  uses 
of  that  Holy  Spirit  whose  mighty  power  shall  draw  all  men  to 
Christ." 


CHAPTER  XL. 
PRACTICAL  ENDEAVORS. 

THAT  THE  SPIRITUAL  PURPOSE  OF  THE  SOCIETY  IS 
WHOLLY  CONSISTENT  WITH  THE  MOST  PRACTICAL 
AND  EVERY-DAY  KIND  OF  SERVICE  FOR  THE  MASTER 
IS  MADE  PLAIN  BY  THE  MULTIFARIOUS  KINDS  OF 
CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR  WORK  DESCRIBED  IN  THIS 
CHAPTER. 

"  The  Society  should  direct  its  new  members  into  larger 
usefulness.  The  individual  is  too  often  lost  sight  of  in  the 
generalization.  He  must  be  reached  or  lost  to  the  cause.  He 
has  a  place  to  fill,  however  humble  it  may  be.  If  not  filled 
by  him,  the  cause  suffers  irreparable  loss. 
"  '  I  cannot  paint,  nor  write  nor  sing; 

And  yet  there  seems  for  me  some  quiet  niche  to  fill 
Somewhere  in  God's  great  world,  I  stand  and  wait 
Where  He  may  find  me  ready  for  His  will.'  " 
Rev.  Charles  M.  Oliphant,  at  the  Detroit  Convention. 

iT  is  sometimes  asked,  and  occasionally  with  a  cir- 
cumflex sneer:  "What,  after  all,  is  the  Society 
doing?  What  actual  results  that  can  be  formu- 
lated and  tabulated  can  you  record?  It  is  all 
very  well  to  talk  of  prayer-meetings  and  pledges 
and  consecration-meetings,  where  the  young  people  can  come 
together  to  say  their  little  verses,  and  spiritually  pat  one 
another  on  the  shoulder,  but  what  is  the  good  of  it  all? 
What  does  it  result  in,  in  actual  cold,  hard  facts? 

The  Society  is  entirely  willing  to  accept  this  challenge. 
It  is  perfectly  willing  to  attempt  to  show  its  faith  by  its 
works.     It  acknowledges  that  the  fruit  test  is  the  only  test 

34  529 


530 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


of  a  movement,  as  of  an  apple-tree.  The  only  difficulty  in  a 
history  like  this  is  in  giving  a  sample  of  fruit  from  the  thou- 
sand different  branches  which  have  been  grafted  into  the 
Christian  Endeavor  tree. 

It  is  said  that  Mr.  Burbank  of  California  has  an  apple- 
tree  growing,  on  which  are  hundreds  of  different  varieties  of 
apples  and  other  kinds  of  fruit.  It  would  be  difficult  for  any 
horticulturist  to  sample  them  all  in  a  reasonable  space  of 
time.  He  would  have  to  live  upon  the  Burbank  farm,  and, 
as  the  seasons  came  and  went,  he  might  hope,  after  a  time, 
to  become  familiar  with  the  products  of  this  wonderful  tree. 
In  sampling  Christian  Endeavor  fruit  it  is  still  more  diffi- 
cult, since  the  tree  spreads  over  so  wide  an  area.  Some  of  its 
branches  overhang  Asia,  and  some  Africa.  The  different 
denominational  branches  in  America  bear  fruits  of  different 
flavors,  though  perhaps  all  are  equally  valuable.  In  the 
country  the  flavor  is  not  quite  the  same  as  in  the  city,  but  it 
is  just  as  good  an  endeavor.  There  is  absolutely  no  limit  to 
what  a  Christian  Endeavor  society  may  do,  except  the  limit 
imposed  by  its  own  church  and  pastor. 

Sometimes  Christian  Endeavor  has  been 
Variety  thought  to  be  too  introspcctive  and  subjective, — 
Fruit  ^^  ^^^^  chiefly  with  the  salvation  of  the  individual 

soul,  not  at  all  a  bad  thing  for  it  to  emphasize  in 
the  estimation  of  the  writer,  however  some  modern  philan- 
thropists may  disagree  with  him.  But  all  the  records  show, 
from  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era  to  the  present  time, 
that  those  who  are  most  anxious  to  save  others  and  help 
others  are  those  who  have  themselves  first  been  saved  and 
helped  by  the  grace  of  Christ. 

To  prove  the  variety  of  the  fruit  borne  by  the  Christian 
Endeavor  tree  it  may  be  necessary  only  to  quote  a  few  para- 
graphs from  the  last  report  of  General  Secretary  Vogt,  of  the 
United  Society  of  America: 


Practical    Endeavors. 


531 


"To  express  in  deeds  the  truth  taught  from  the  pulpit, 
Sunday-school,  home,  or  public  school — this  is  our  place  in 
the  economy  of  the  church's  organization.  And  what  a  noble 
expression  it  has  been  this  year!  More  than  two  thousand 
cheering  services  of  song  reported  in  hospitals,  missions,  pris- 
ons, etc.!  Barrels  of  clothing  and  useful  articles  reported 
from  every  quarter!  More  than  a  half-million  gifts  of  flow- 
ers! Special  clubs,  conducted  for  interesting  and  benefiting 
younger  young  people,  numbering  three  hundred. 

"We  shall  especially  recognize  1,305  separate  societies  for 
worthy  effort  under  this  head.  A  few  words  only  from  their 
reports  must  suffice  to  indicate  these  loving  ministries :  'Start- 
ed jail  work.'  'Secured  prisoners  employment  after  their  dis- 
charge.' 'Hospital  work: 
3,050  bouquets  of  flow- 
ers.' 'Gospel  sung  to 
3,000  persons.'  'Maga- 
zines to  over  2,500  peo- 
ple.' 'Two  hundred  vis- 
itations to  workhouse,  in- 
firmary, and  Old  Ladies' 
Home.'  'Keep  an  in- 
valid's chair  to  loan.' 
'Established  an  employ- 
ment  agency  for 
strangers.'  'Opened  a 
church  reading-room  for 
young  men.'  'Organized 
industrial  school  for 
children.'  'Sent  84 
Bibles  to  prisoners.' 
'Hotel  committee  sends 
weekly  sealed  invitations 
for  church  services  and 
church  calendars  to 
every  hotel  guest.'   'New 

hitching-posts  about  the  church  and  lights  within.'  'Edit, 
publish,  and  distribute  church  paper.'  'Cared  for  large  poor 
family  all  winter.'    'Chorus  choir  for  Sunday  evening  service.' 


Christian  Endeavor  Flower  Committee  in  India 
Starting  for  the  Hospital. 


532         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

'Invitations  for  church  services  distributed  in  boarding- 
houses.'  'Organized  and  support  a  coffee-club.'  'Literature- 
rack  at  depot  kept  full.'  'Regular  Quiet  Hour  service  before 
morning  worship  in  the  church.'  'Intermediates  and  Juniors 
are  especially  faithful  workers.'  'Organized,  drilled  military 
company  in  the  society.'  'Made  fifty  scrap-books  for  hospital 
children.'  'Furnished  boys'  reading-room.'  'Twelve  bou- 
quets to  the  sick  every  Sunday,  ii8  glasses  of  jelly  to  Old 
Ladies'  Home,  and  20  comfort  bags  to  sailors.'  'Organized  a 
boys'  choir.'  'Christmas  greetings  to  every  prisoner  in  city 
jail.'  'Made  quilts  for  Orphans'  Home.'  'Ajax  Club  for  the 
boys.'  'Gathered  and  pressed  wild  flowers  for  Syrian  day- 
school.'  Surely  He  who  came  to  minister  will  bless  the  work 
of  these  loving  hands." 

It  must  be  remembered  that  these  are  but  samples  of  prac- 
tical endeavors  chosen  from  thousands  that  might  have  been 
mentioned. 

P     .  As  is  natural,  since  the  Endeavor  Society  is 

Air  composed  so  largely  of  young  people,  their  sym- 

^"^^^'  pathies  go  out  to  other  young  people  and  children, 
and  "Fresh-Air  camps"  have  been  a  specialty  of  the  Society 
for  many  years.  One  was  organized  by  the  Endeavorers  of 
Staten  Island  as  long  ago  as  1894,  and  last  year  no  less  than 
seven  parties  of  Italians,  Germans,  and  Chinese,  numbering 
between  thirty  and  forty  each,  were  taken  to  "Camp  Christian 
Endeavor,"  and  enjoyed  a  most  delightful  outing.  The  Staten 
Island  Endeavorers  have  been  re-enforced  by  the  Brooklyn 
Endeavorers,  and  now  almost  three  hundred  children,  of 
many  nationalities,  every  year,  enjoy  the  smell  of  the  sea  and 
the  breath  of  the  flowers  and  trees. 

It  has  also  been  occasionally  thought  that  Christian  En- 
deavor, being  so  much  engrossed  in  spiritual  matters,  paid 
little  attention  to  bodily  exercise,  which,  though  not  "profit- 
able unto  all  things,"  certainly  has  its  place  in  the  life  of  every 
well-regulated  young  person.     But  Christian  Endeavor  out- 


Practical    Endeavors. 


53: 


ings,  tennis  clubs,  and  baseball  clubs  are  by  no  means  uncom- 
mon, and  may  be  engaged  in  by  all  who  will. 

A  Christian  Endeavor  Tennis  Club  belongs  to  the  Ver- 
mont Avenue  Christian  Church  of  Washington.  "First  and 
foremost,"  says  Mr.  James  M.  Pickens,  "this  club  is  strictly 
a  Christian  Endeavor  afifair;  a  tennis  tail,  though  it  is  a  lively 
appendage,  is  not  permitted  to  wag  the  Endeavor  dog.     Mem- 


Christian    Endeavor   Rest   for   Ranchmen   at    Pierre,    S.    Dak. 

bers   are   restricted   to   the  members  of  the   society,   though 
friends  are  often  invited  to  play  as  guests,  and  the  club  really 
has   no   separate   existence,   but  is   managed   by   a 
Door  tennis   committee  of  the  society.     As   a  rule,   the 

Sports.  members  who  take  the  most  interest  in  tennis  are 
the  most  active  in  the  serious  work  of  the  society.  Their 
court  is  a  fine  one,  and  there  is  hardly  a  pleasant  morning  or 


534         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

evening  when  a  jolly  party  of  players  and  spectators  may  not 
be  found  on  it." 

This  is  by  no  means  an  isolated  case.  Here  are  some 
out-of-door  endeavors  which  have  actually  been  tried  by  many 
societies  with  good  results: 

Some  societies  have  organized  Endeavor  cycle  clubs,  that 
travel  off  (on  week-days)  on  their  wheels,  and  hold  evangelis- 
tic services  in  neglected  places. 

Christian  Endeavor  flower  gardens  have  been  made  in 
many  places  to  furnish  all  the  flowers  needed  for  the  church. 

An  Endeavor  field-day  is  held  once  a  year,  with  a  series 
of  athletic  contests  carefully  planned  and  carried  out  with 
spirit,  often  on  some  patriotic  holiday. 

Christian  Endeavor  walking  clubs  that  strengthen  the 
body,  develop  delightful  companionships,  and  bring  the 
society  into  all  the  most  beautiful  and  interesting  spots  of  the 
community. 

Some  bird-student  takes  the  society  on  a  bird-walk,  or 
some  geologist  or  botanist  leads  a  scientific  excursion,  or  some 
astronomer  takes  the  society  out  under  the  stars  to  learn  the 
constellations. 

The  Lancashire  and  Cheshire  Federation  of 
Home^"!'  Christian  Endeavor  Unions  has  been  especially 
active  in  establishing  "Christian  Endeavor  holiday 
homes."  They  have  one  in  Kent's  Bank  in  the  Furness  dis- 
trict, and  another  at  Rostrevor  in  Ireland.  Mrs.  Jennie 
Wareing,  of  Rochdale,  and  many  other  prominent  Endeavor- 
ers  in  these  two  great  counties  have  been  especially  active  in 
promoting  this  work.  Here  are  some  breezy  paragraphs, 
which  tell  the  spirit  and  purpose  of  this  most  helpful 
endeavor: 

"  'Comradeship'  will  be  the  motto-word  of  these  homes. 
No  'side,'  no  'airs,'  no  'superiority'  allowed.     All  will  pay  the 


Practical    Endeavors.  535 

same  and  be  treated  alike.  Everybody  will  minister  to  every- 
body's enjoyment.  A  'jolly  time'  is  what  we  want  to  arrange 
for,  and  Endeavorers  should  be  able  to  make  it  clear  that  this 
can  be  had  quite  consistently  with  our  'striving  to  do  whatever 
He  would  like  to  have  us  do.' 

"The  terms  are  exceptionally  moderate.  We  have  tried 
to  get  the  very  best  at  a  cost  which  will  meet  the  pockets  of  all. 
We  rely  upon  Endeavorers  in  our  federation  area  taking  up 
this  new  venture  with  heartiness.  Well-known  Endeavorers 
will  be  with  each  party.  Daily  excursions  will  be  arranged, 
which  will  combine  pleasure  and  profit." 

In  a  single  number  of  the  English  Christian 

Numerous  ^.  ° 

Practical  Endeavour  Times  we  read  of  an  "old  folks'  tea" 
provided  by  the  Endeavorers  of  St.  Albans,  who 
raised  the  necessary  amount  of  money,  seventy-five  dollars, 
chiefly  by  carol-singing;  and  of  a  "treat  for  cripples"  given 
by  the  Willesden  Green  Baptist  Society,  where  forty-five  crip- 
ples enjoyed  a  delightful  supper  which  was  followed  by  a 
lantern  lecture;  while  the  Endeavorers  of  Lower  Wincobank 
gave  the  old  folks  of  the  village  an  annual  treat,  and  the  sun- 
shine committee  of  the  Silvertown  Baptist  Society  provided 
a  "tea"  for  eighty  of  the  poorest  children.  Two  other  socie- 
ties, recorded  in  this  one  issue  of  this  one  paper,  gave  a  feast 
to  old  people,  and  three  other  "sunshine  committees"  provided 
good  things  and  special  treats  for  poor  children. 

The  Endeavorers  of  southern  California  raised  a  car  of 
oranges  to  be  sold,  and  the  proceeds  were  used  for  the  relief  of 
the  Armenians  at  the  time  of  their  great  persecution,  and 
more  than  $1,200  was  realized.  While  I  am  writing  this 
chapter,  a  letter  has  been  forwarded  to  me  telling  of  help 
received  by  workmen  in  the  canal  zone  of  Panama  from  the 
magazines  and  good  reading  sent  by  the  Congregational 
Endeavorers  of  Woodhaven,  N.  Y.  So  widespread  are  their 
ministrations. 

This  whole  matter  has  never  been  better  summarized  than 


53^ 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


by  Mr.  William  Shaw,  the  treasurer  of  the  United  Society,  in 
his  address  at  the  last  American  convention.  I  quote  his  short 
address  entire,  for  it  gives  the  practical  results  of  things  actu- 
ally done  in  the  first  twenty-five  years  of  Christian  Endeavor 
as  succinctly  as  they  can  be  put. 

''A  missionary,  returning  to  this  country  after  an  absence  of 
many  years  was  asked  what  feature  of  church  life  impressed 
him  most.     He  replied  instantly,  'The  wonderful  activity  of 


Lumbermen's  Reading-Room  Furnished  by  Glengarry  Co.  Endeavorers. 


young  people  in  church-work.'  The  changed  conditions  in 
our  church  life  have  come  about  so  gradually  that 
many  people  have  failed  to  note  them.  We  judge 
by  comparisons. 

"Twenty-five  years  ago  the  ruling  idea  in  the 
church  was  that  children  should  be  seen  and  not  heard.  The 
result  was  that  few  were  seen,  and  none  were  heard. 


Mr. 

William 
Shaw's 
Summary 


Practical   Endeavors.  537 

"Twenty-five  years  of  Christian  Endeavor  have  impressed 
this  fact  upon  the  church  that  it  is  out  of  the  young  people  that 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  to  be  made. 

"This  week  66,000  Christian  Endeavor  prayer-meetings 
will  be  held,  and  tens  of  thousands  more  by  societies  that  be- 
long to,  and  ought  to  be  in,  our  fellowship.  These  prayer- 
meetings  are  the  classrooms  of  the  church's  spiritual  training- 
school.  Here  the  educational  principle,  *No  impression  with- 
out expression,'  is  being  worked  out. 

"In  perfectly  natural  ways  young  people  are  given  an  op- 
portunity to  give  expression  to  their  aspirations  and  ideals,  and 
to  cultivate  their  talents  as  witnesses  for  Christ.  The  possibili- 
ties of  these  services  along  evangelistic  lines  cannot  be  overes- 
timated. Here  under  the  most  helpful  conditions  young.peo- 
ple  are  faced  with  the  question  of  decision  for  Christ,  and 
here,  surrounded  by  their  companions  and  friends,  they  re- 
ceive the  training  necessary  for  growth  in  character  and  serv- 
ice. 

"In  our  plan  of  Junior,  Intermediate,  and  Young  Peo- 
ple's societies,  with  the  Mothers'  or  Parents'  society  added,  we 
have  a  system  that  is  scientifically  correct  and  practically 
workable.  Its  degree  of  efficiency  depends  upon  the  leader- 
ship and  material  furnished  by  the  local  church. 

"Twenty-five  years  ago  the  church  that  had  a  well-organ- 
ized young  people's  society  was  the  exception.  To-day  the 
church  that  does  not  have  such  a  society  is  a  curiosity. 

"Christian  Endeavor  made  the  prayer-meeting  the  heart 
of  the  movement,  and  has  laid  great  emphasis  on  testimony 
and  prayer,  as  it  ought,  for  without  prayer  and  testimony  the 
church  would  die.  The  martyrs  and  confessors  rank  together. 
In  the  history  of  great  deeds  the  'voice  crying  in  the  wilder- 
ness' has  always  preceded  the  deed. 

"But  Christian  Endeavor  has  not  only  a  heart  and  voice, 
but  hands  and  feet  as  well.  Through  its  system  of  committee 
work  it  offers  opportunities  for  training  in  service  for  every 
member.  This  training  is  as  broad  and  comprehensive  as  the 
mission  of  the  church,  and  covers  every  department  of  life  and 
activity. 

"It  recognizes  the  religious,  social,  and  intellectual  needs 


538 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


of  the  young  people  and  the  claims  of  philanthropy  and  re- 
form. The  system  is  so  flexible  that  it  can  be  adapted  to  the 
needs  of  the  smallest,  or  the  requirements  of  the  largest, 
church.  It  unifies  the  activities  of  the  young  people,  so  that,^ 
while  each  department  is  in  charge  of  specialists,  all  are  united 
in  the  common  work. 


Recognition   Certificate. 

"Through  the  executive  committee  it  gives  to  the  pastor 
a  cabinet  by  which  he  can  touch  and  direct  every  line  of  work 
in  which  the  young  people  are  engaged. 

"Twenty-five  years  ago  some  of  the  churches  had  mission 


Practical    Endeavors.  539 

circles  composed  entirely  of  girls  or  young  ladies.  Now  we 
have  thousands  of  our  brightest  and  best  young  men  vying 
with  the  young  ladies  in  their  interest  and  enthusiasm  for  mis- 
sions. Tens  of  thousands  of  missionary  committees  are  at 
work,  and  thousands  of  mission-study  classes  are  conducted. 

"Less  than  ten  thousand  societies  reporting  to  the  United 
Society  the  actual  amounts  contributed  for  beneficence  for  a 
period  of  five  years  gave  a  total  of  $2,187,000.  Not  a  penny 
of  this  was  given  to  the  United  Society  or  used  in  Christian 
Endeavor  work,  but  eve-ry  dollar  was  a  contribution  to  the 
missionary  and  philanthropic  work  of  the  church.  I  venture 
the  assertion  that  there  is  no  organization  in  the  church  that 
has  given  so  much,  or  that  has  enlisted  so  many  unpaid 
workers  in  the  service  of  the  church,  as  the  Society  of  Chris- 
tian Endeavor. 

"Twenty-five  years  ago  the  young  people's  religious  pa- 
per was  often  a  goody-goody  child's  story-paper,  and  the 
young  people's  department  in  the  church  papers  consisted  of 
a  weak  storyette.  To-day  our  young  people's  papers  are  the 
peers  of  any  publications,  strong,  aggressive,  virile,  practical, 
spiritual,  and  successful. 

"Twenty-five  years  ago  a  young  people's  religious  con- 
vention was  unknown;  now  they  rank  as  the  largest  religious 
gatherings  of  our  time,  and  exercise  a  commanding  influence 
in  the  public  life  of  our  day.  They  challenge  the  attention  of 
believer  and  unbeliever  alike,  and  are  striking  manifestations 
'of  the  vitality  of  the  young  people's  faith. 

"Twenty-five  jclts  ago  the  young  people  of  the  nations 
and  denominations  were  isolated  and  unknown  to  each  other. 
Now,  with  no  loss  of  loyalty  or  fidelity  to  their  own  nations 
and  denominations,  they  are  united  in  a  world-wide  brother- 
hood, exalting  Him  who  is  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords." 


CHAPTER  XLI. 
CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR  IN  EVERY-DAY  LIFE. 

THAT  THE  CORPORATE  ACTIVITIES  OF  THE  SOCIETY,  ITS 
GREAT  CONVENTIONS,  AND  ITS  UNITED  FELLOWSHIP 
ARE  NOT  THE  ONLY  RESULT  OF  THE  MOVEMENT  IS 
SHOWN  BY  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  SOCIETY  ON  INDI- 
VIDUAL LIVES,  AS  HEREIN  SET  FORTH. 

"  Above  us  loom  forever 
The  mighty  mountains  of  Endeavor, 
And  whoso  on  their  summit  stands 
Looks  on  sun-kissed  table-lands. 
We  grasp  our  mountain-staff  to  climb 
Their  sky-enshrouded  peaks  sublime, 
Up  where  the  crystal  torrent  pours, 
And  then  —  we  stop  and  do  the  chores." 

HE  severest  test  of  a  movement  is  not  found  by 
any  means  in  its  public  meetings  or  its  great 
conventions.  The  numbers,  the  enthusiasm, 
the  uplift  of  the  singing,  may  produce  strenu- 
ous resolves  and  holy  emotions;  but  the  real 
question  is,  "How  is  the  life  affected?"  Can  the  obscure  and 
lonely  soul  find  help  and  encouragement?  Can  the  little 
society  struggling  along  amid  worldliness  and  indifference  in- 
spire its  members  to  "love  mercy,  do  justly,  and  walk  humbly" 
before  their  God?  Do  the  prayer-meeting  and  the  work 
accomplished  lead  to  a  closer  personal  walk  with  God,  and 
to  more  lovely  home  life?  Do  they  make  better  sons  and 
daughters  and  brothers  and  sisters?  Has  the  Society  been  a 
blessing  to  the  quiet  activities  of  the  church,  as  well  as  to 
the  lives  of  individual  members? 

540 


In    Every    Day    Life.  541 

The  testimony  that  has  come  on  this  subject  has  been 
overwhelming,  and  more  gratifying,  perhaps,  than  any  other 
feature  of  the  movement.  In  order  that  I  might  obtain  at 
first  hand  from  Endeavorers  who  have  actually  lived  the  inci- 
dents which  they  record,  or  knew  of  them  directly,  I  have 
asked  for  some  testimonies  from  the  every-day  experiences  of 
pastors  and  others.  Multitudes  of  others  of  like  nature  have 
been  put  in  print,  and  space  allows  only  a  selection  from  those 
that  have  come  to  me  personally  within  a  few  days  from 
many  parts  of  the  world. 

The  stimulating  effect  of  the  Society  upon  the  intellectual 
as  well  as  the  spiritual  nature  is  shown  by  two  incidents  sent 
by  one  of  the  leading  Endeavorers  of  London,  the  gifted  Miss 
Ella  M.  Weatherley,  who  was  at  one  time  president  of  the 
London  Union,  the  greatest  Christian  Endeavor  union  in  the 
world.  "A  boy  of  twelve  years  in  our  Junior  society  was 
very  much  troubled  because,  living  in  an  entirely  godless 
house,  he  could  not  even  keep  a  Bible,  since  it  was  at  once 
taken  away  from  him.  He  was  very  anxious  as  to  how  he 
could  fulfil  his  pledge,  and  at  length  solved  the  difficulty  by 
going  to  school  ten  minutes  before  the  other  boys  and  securing 
the  opportunity  of  reading  from  the  school  Bible.  He  is  now 
secretary  of  the  Junior  society,  and  always  has  a  word  to  say 
on  the  topic." 

int  iiect-  "Among  the  nucleus  first  forming  our  Chris- 

uai  tian  Endeavor  society*  was  a  girl  of  eighteen,  a 

factory  girl  who  had  not  had  the  advantage  of  much 
education;  but  her  heart  was  given  to  God  and  His  service. 
She  began  to  take  an  interest  in  the  Christian  Endeavor  Sun- 
day-school, and  obtained  by  this  such  insight  into  the  lives  of 
the  children,  learning  at  the  same  time  methods  of  organiza- 
tion, that  last  year  she  was  unanimously  elected  superintend- 
ent, and  is  most  efficiently  carrying  on  the  work." 

*  Christ  Church  Society,  London,  the  Rev.  F.  B.  Meyer,  pastor. 


542 


Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


In  a 
Home 
Mission 
Church. 


Miss  Weatherley  has  also  told  of  a  postman,  who  after 
becoming  a  member  of  the  society,  and  because  of  his  desire 
to  take  part  intelligently  and  helpfully  in  the  meetings,  paid 
three  pounds  out  of  his  meagre  wages  for  grammar  lessons, 
that  he  thus  might  honor  God  the  better. 

One  great  mission  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement 
has  been  to  help  the  weak  and  struggling  churches  in  home- 
missionary  fields  or  on  our  own  frontier.  The  Rev.  Samuel 
B.  Chase,  of  Lewiston,  Ida.,  writes  about  the  formation  of  a 
society  of  great  promises  in  that  new  field.  He  also  organized 
the  first  society  in  North  Dakota,  and  one  of  the  earliest  in 
Michigan,  beginning  in  each  case  with  a  very  few 
young  people.  "I  can  truthfully  say,"  he  writes, 
''that  the  success  of  our  work  has  been  largely  due 
to  the  organized  efforts  of  our  young  people,  who 
are  always  loyal  and  true.  One  of  the  most  flourishing  chur- 
ches in  Michigan  started  with  a  little  handful  of  young  people 
organized  into  a  Christian  Endeavor  society." 

Very  numerous  are  the  testimonies 
of  those  who  have  come  into  the  min- 
istry through  the  Christian  Endeavor 
door.  One  of  these,  the  Rev.  R.  B. 
Fisher,  pastor  of  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  church,  Macomb,  111., 
writes,  '*It  has  helped  me  to  'grow, 
glow,  go,  for  Christ,'  even  into  the 
ministry.  You  intend  writing  the  his- 
tory of  the  first  twenty-five  years  of 
Christian  Endeavor!  Why,  it  is  im- 
possible. Neither  you  nor  any  one  else 
could  write  it  and  do  full  justice  in 
telling  of  what  it  has  opened  up  only 
for  me,  a  lone,  solitary  Christian  Endeavorer." 

The  testimony  of  pastors  and  other  Christian  workers 


A  Native  Alaskan  Christian 
Endeavorer. 


In    Every    Day    Life.  54 


o 


also  as  to  the  later  lives  of  their  active  Endeavorers  is  most 
encouraging.  Rev.  J.  B.  Donaldson  of  Davenport,  lo.,  who 
organized  in  Hastings,  Minn.,  the  first  Presbyterian  society, 
writes:  "I  well  recall  the  young  people  who  came  and  asked 
for  the  use  of  my  study,  and  how  glad  I  was  to  do  for  them 
what  I  would  otherwise  have  felt  required  some 
Defi'nite"^  Self-denial.  One  of  these  young  ladies.  Miss  Re- 
Work^"^  becca  Brown,  went  as  a  missionary  to  Syria,  labor- 
ing there  for  many  years,  until  ill  health  brought 
her  home.  Another  member  of  that  pioneer  society,  a  school- 
teacher, scarcely  suffered  a  single  communion  to  pass  without 
bringing  some  of  her  young  friends  to  confess  Christ.  From 
this  society  others  were  organized  in  different  States,  and  it 
gave  the  first  president  to  the  Minnesota  State  union." 

In  the  Grace  Baptist  Temple  in  Philadelphia,  as  has  been 
recorded  in  another  chapter,  are  fourteen  societies.  One  of 
these.  Section  H,  its  corresponding  secretary  writes,  has 
developed  five  leaders  in  an  all-round  Christian  Endeavor 
work;  one  young  man  has  gone  into  the  ministry  from  this 
section,  four  have  had  special  training  as  Christian  teachers; 
one  young  man,  though  far  from  rich,  has  given  very  largely 
to  the  support  of  a  missionary  abroad;  many  have  been 
brought  to  Christ  and  into  the  society  through  this  section,  and 
it  did  its  share  in  the  late  reform  movement  in  Philadelphia 
to  regenerate  the  city. 

The  Rev.  N.  L.  Packard  of  Lincoln,  Neb.,  sends  most 
cheering  notes  of  several  Christian  Endeavor  societies  and 
their  members.  One  little  society  of  six  active  members, 
which  he  organized  at  Nashua,  lo.,  was  composed  of  new  con- 
verts between  fifteen  and  eighteen  years  of  age.  With  them 
were  joined  seven  associate  members,  who  in  less  than  six 
months  had  been  converted  and  joined  the  active  membership. 
Within  two  years  this  society  had  grown  to  fifty.  One  of  the 
original  six  deserves  special  notice.     "She  took  her  stand  for 


544  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

Christ  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  the  only  Christian  in  the  home. 
Her  mother  said  to  the  pastor  six  months  later,  'Nellie  is 
different  from  what  she  was.'  Her  light  was  shining  in  the 
home,  and  soon  her  mother  came  into  the  church.  Later  her 
three  brothers  one  by  one  came  into  the  Christian  Endeavor 
and  church  fellowship,  and  her  father  was  brought  into  sym- 
pathy." After  receiving  training  in  the  Moody  Bible  Insti- 
tute, this  young  lady  went  as  teacher  to  the  freedmen,  and, 
has  now  fulfilled  a  long-cherished  wish  by  sailing  for  Africa 
as  a  missionary  to  the  heathen. 

A  correspondent  in  Ontario  tells  a  story  of  his  experience 
in  the  Transvaal,  where,  at  Wakkerstroom,  he  formed  a  society 
with  an  active  membership  of  three.  They  had  as  many  com- 
mittees as  members :  one  of  the  three  was  placed  on  the  look- 
out committee,  one  on  the  prayer-meeting,  and  one 
Experience  ^^  ^^^  good-litcraturc,  Committee.  They  worked 
in  the  against  great  odds  on  account  of  the  war,  which 

Transvaal.         ^  ,      ,      .  .  .  .       '      .     . 

prevented  their  gettmg  any  supplies  of  Christian 
Endeavor  literature.  For  months  these  three,  this  young 
banker,  one  boy,  and  one  girl,  struggled  along,  each  one  tak- 
ing the  meeting  in  turn ;  but  now  the  society  numbers  forty 
members  and  the  pastor  says  that  these  Endeavorers  are  his 
"right  hand." 

"In  our  Sunday-school  class,"  writes  Mrs.  Lucy  Clark 
Shedd,  of  Boston,  "the  teacher  said  recently  that  she  had  met 
a  young  woman  of  means  and  leisure,  who  said  she  did  not 
feel  that  she  had  any  special  talent,  or  that  she  was  of  much 
use  in  the  world,  and  asked  the  members  of  the  class  to  tell 
what  they  would  have  said  to  her  under  the  circumstances. 
One  young  woman  said  with  great  sincerity  in  her  tone  and 
manner,  'I  would  invite  her  to  become  a  member  of  the 
Christian  Endeavor  society,  for  since  I  united  with  it  I  am  a 
different  girl!'  After  the  class  another  member  said,  'I  used 
to  be  very  diffident,  and  had  no  self-possession  in  public,  but, 


In    Every    Day    Life. 


545 


when  I  went  into  the  Christian  Endeavor  society,  I  just  had 
to  help,  and  it  has  been  the  making  of  me.'  " 

Some  of  the  most  striking  testimonies  relate  to  the  influ- 
ence of  the  "Quiet  Hour."  Personally  I  have  known  young 
ladies,  whose  lives  had  been  entirely  worldly  and  frivolous,  to 
be  entirely  transformed  in  all  their  aspirations  and  manner  of 


the 

"  Quiet 
Hour  " 
Does. 


Prominent   Endeavor  Leaders  of  India. 

living  by  the  promise  to  spend  fifteen  minutes  in  communion 
What  with  God  and  His  word  every  day.     The  president 

of  the  New  York  City  Union,  Mr.  Lyman  S.  Stone, 
writes:  "The  results  of  the  Quiet-Hour  observance 
are  often  almost  instantaneous  in  a  society  where  a 
good  proportion  of  its  members  take  it  up.  I  know  two 
societies  located  on  opposite  sides  of  the  same  street,  whose 
leaders  had  become  so  estranged  that  they  would  not  speak 
to  each  other,  and  whose  members  were  fast  imbibing  the 
same  spirit.  One  of  these  societies  was  led  to  adopt  the 
'Quiet  Hour,'  and  some  ninety-five  per  cent  of  its  members 

35 


546         christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

became  Comrades.  This  practice  of  communion  with  God  so 
mellowed  their  hearts  toward  their  neighboring  fellow  En- 
deavorers  that  they  extended  an  olive-branch  of  peace  and 
fellowship  by  inviting  them  to  a  joint  prayer-meeting.  The 
invitation  was  accepted;  then  the  pastor  was  invited  also;  and 
he,  feeling  that  he  could  not  well  refuse  to  go  where  his 
Endeavorers  led  the  way,  accepted.  A  love-feast  was  the 
result;  both  societies  took  up  the  precious  'Quiet-Hour'  ob- 
servance, and  there  has  ever  since  been  the  utmost  cordiality 
and  fellowship  between  the  pastors  and  members." 

Many  of  my  correspondents  tell  how  they  started  with 
very  small  numbers;  but,  if  the  few  were  but  faithful,  it 
seems  to  have  made  but  little  difference  whether  the  start  was 
with  three  or  with  thirty.  The  Rev.  N.  F.  Nickerson,  of 
Erie,  Mich.,  one  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  pioneers,  began 
with  only  seven,  himself,  two  of  his  own  children,  the  two 
children  of  an  elder,  and  two  others;  but  that  small  beginning 
soon  grew  to  a  society  of  seventy  members ;  a  revival  soon  fol- 
lowed, and  the  church  was  very  greatly  blessed. 

Many   of   my   correspondents,  indeed,    dwell   upon   the 
way  in  which  God  used  unpromising  efforts,  as  they  seemed 
to  them,  to  accomplish  large  results.     The  Rev.  Horace  Dut- 
ton,  the  superintendent  of  the  work  in  Europe,  tells 
about  a  painful  experience  he  once  had  in  Berlin. 
Seeming       A  large  audicucc  had  assembled,  and  for  interpreter 
'y^a"''^         he  had  one  of  the  most  prominent  Christians  in 
b^^Q  d         Germany.     But,  owing  to  great  fatigue  and  weari- 
ness, his  thoughts  failed  him  at  the  critical  moment. 
He  broke  down  utterly,  he  says,  and  was  obliged 
to  confess  his  inability  to  go  on,  though  he  had  full  notes  of  a 
carefully  prepared  address  in  hand.     Was  there  ever  appar- 
ently a  greater  failure?     "This  was  all  I  knew  at  the  time,  but 
last  summer,  at  the  Berlin  convention,  I  met  Rev.  Robert 
Bahtz  of  Riga,  and  then  learned  for  the  first  time  that  it  was 


In    Every   Day   Life.  547 

from  my  remarks  at  this  very  meeting  in  Berlin  that  he  had 
received  his  first  impulse  to  go  forth  into  the  Lettish  provinces 
of  Russia,  and  commence  among  his  own  people  the  life- 
work  of  a  Christian  Endeavor  secretary.  Do  you  wonder 
that  this  fact  was  a  great  encouragement  to  me?  It  teaches 
me  that  not  what  we  attempt  for  God,  but  what  God  does  and 
is  ever  waiting  to  do  through  us,  makes  our  work  successful." 

Several  instances  of  heroism  by  Christian  Endeavorers 
have  been  sent  me,  where  they  have  risked  their  lives  for  oth- 
ers; but  I  prefer  in  my  limited  space  to  record  the  story  of  a 
worker  in  one  of  the  largest  Tyneside  potteries  of  England, 
where  the  great  majority  of  the  employees  are  of  the  thought- 
less, thriftless,  and  godless  class.  Miss  W.,  an  active  En- 
deavorer,  has  shown  such  a  beautiful  Christlike  character  and 
example  to  these  rough  men  and  women  that  her  influence  is 
now  permeating  their  hardened  hearts.  In  all  times  of  trouble 
and  difficulty  they  come  to  her,  and  the  work  hands  now  call 
her  the  "saint  among  the  sinners." 

A  striking  incident  is  sent  by  the  Rev.  William  T.  Pat- 

chell,  of  San  Jose,  Cal.     A  great  State  convention  was  being 

held  at  Santa  Barbara,  and  an  evening  open-air 

Wouid=Be     meeting  was  held  at  the  plaza.     After  the  meeting 

Suicide's       ^  young:  man  was  found  in  the  shadow  of  the  trees 

Conversion.        -^  =• 

near  by,  who  declared  that  he  had  been  utterly  dis- 
couraged, and  was  on  his  way  to  the  pier  to  throw  himself 
into  the  sea,  and  thus  end  his  life.  But  on  his  way  he  saw 
the  crowd  on  the  plaza,  and  stopped  to  listen  for  a  moment. 
He  heard  a  girl,  an  Endeavorer,  repeating  a  verse;  it  was  only 
this:  "Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden, 
and  I  will  give  you  rest."  He  could  not  see  the  speaker 
clearly,  but  stopped  as  suddenly  as  if  a  hand  had  been  put  on 
his  shoulder.  "I  could  not  go  on,"  he  says;  "I  heard  nothing 
else,  only  that.  I  stood  still,  and  it  kept  repeating  itself  over 
and  over  in  my  mind,  and  afterwards."     This  splendid  fellow, 


548         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

with  his  intelligent  face  shining  with  a  new  light,  stood  up 
before  the  thousands,  and  gave  his  testimony,  "Jesus  Christ 
has  saved  me  from  my  sins,  and  He  has  made  me  a  new  man." 
"We  never  knew  what  voice  it  was  that  gave  the  message,  only 
some  timid  girl;  but  God  used  her;  and  the  man  born  into 
the  Kingdom  returned  to  Los  Angeles  to  a  wife  and  two  little 
children,  prepared  to  love  and  serve  his  Saviour." 

The  influence  of  some  "shut-in"  Endeavorers  has  been 
most  remarkable.  None  more  so  than  that  of  Miss  Grace 
Pratt,  of  Conneaut,  O.,  an  invalid  of  many  years,  who  for 
the  last  dozen  or  fifteen  years  has  not  been  able  to  lift  her- 
self from  her  bed  of  pain,  but  is  raised  by  straps  and  pulleys 

whenever  her   position   is   changed.     A  telephone 

Q'*^'^*  ,        ,11  1        •  1-11 

Pratt's         over  her  bed  keeps  her  m  touch  with  her  society, 

to  which  she  sends  a  message  at  every  meeting,  and 
whose  songs  she  enjoys  with  the  others.  Her  pastor  has  told 
me  that  in  all  the  city  there  is  no  other  so  influential  Christian 
as  Miss  Pratt.  The  young  people  bring  to  her  bedside  their 
joys  and  their  sorrows.  Her  life  of  patience  and  good  cheer 
in  the  midst  of  suffering  is  a  constant  inspiration  to  all,  and 
few  ever  join  the  church  that  do  not  trace  their  conversion 
directly  back  to  Grace  Pratt's  bedside. 

This  chapter  should  not  end  without  a  brief  reference 
to  the  unselfish  generosity  of  a  multitude  of  unnamed  En- 
deavorers, who  give  their  time  and  strength  and  influence  and 
money  to  the  cause  of  Christ  and  the  church,  without  thought 
of  reward  or  even  of  "honorable  mention"  in  such  a  record  as 
this  or  any  other  of  like  nature.  They  are  numbered  not  by 
the  scores  or  the  thousands,  but  by  the  hundreds  of  thousands; 
they  are  found  in  almost  every  community,  and  the  amount  of 
their  voluntary  unrewarded  work  is  literally  beyond  compute. 
One  correspondent  mentions,  as  an  illustration  of  this,  the 
work  of  some  excursion  managers  to  the  International  Con- 
ventions, and  of  one  in  particular,  Mr.  E.  S.  Ransom,  of  Chi- 


In    Every    Day    Life.  549 

cago,  who,  he  assures  me,  has  personally  incurred  large 
expenses  in  "making  good"  where  delegates  failed  to  pay  after 
being  assigned  to  their  places. 

But  this  is  only  one  example.  Space  forbids  their  mul- 
tiplication ;  but  the  names  of  these  workers,  though  recorded 
in  no  earthly  history,  are  enrolled  in  the  heavenly  records. 
We  are  told  that  there  is  a  "Lamb's  book  of  life."  In  this 
they  must  be  found.  I  said  that  their  labors  were  unre- 
warded; but  this  is  true  from  only  one  standpoint,  and  that 
the  lowest.  For  a  good  conscience,  a  sense  of  duty  done, 
conscious  growth  in  grace  and  in  the  knowledge  of  Christ, 
and  the  sense  of  their  Lord's  approval,  "Ye  have  done  it  unto 
me,"  is  their  exceeding  great  reward. 


CHAPTER  XLII. 
HEROIC  CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR. 

THAT  THE  EVERY-DAY,  PRACTICAL  SIDE  OF  CHRISTIAN 
ENDEAVOR  SOMETIMES  DEVELOPS  HEROES,  AND  OFTEN 
DEVELOPS  HEROIC  QUALITIES,  IS  HEREIN  MADE  PLAIN. 

"  Be  you,  too,  heroic,  then,  O  Christian  Endeavorers,  in  the 
best  things  your  Christ  and  His  church  would  have  you  be. 
Make  what  men  call  smallest  greatest  by  the  motive,  '  for  His 
sake.'  Do  not  daintily  pick  and  choose.  Do  not  say,  '  Some- 
body else  can  do  the  inconspicuous  and  distasteful  service.' 
Seize  you  it,  rather,  for  Jesus'  sake,  and  by  the  great  motive 
with  which  you  work  turn  drudgery  to  delight,  and  show  how 
high  and  noble  it  is,  and  possible  to  be  heroic,  even  though 
your  hands  are  set  at  what  men  call  common  things." 

Rev.   Wayland  Hoyt,  D.D. 

fOK  the  most  part  the  lives  of  Christian  Endeavorers 
seem  to  themselves,  at  least,  plain  and  unheroic. 
W^ho  knows  how  they  may  seem  to  the  angels,  who 
so  often  must  reverse  our  human  estimates? 

Christian  Endeavorers  are,  of  course,  like  the 
rest  of  humanity  in  the  common  walks  of  life.  They  are 
schoolboys  and  schoolgirls,  clerks  and  shop-assistants,  farmers 
and  stenographers,  teachers  and  preachers;  some  are  rich,  but 
more  are  poor;  some  move  in  high  social  circles,  but  more 
know  little  of  the  technical  meaning  of  the  word  "society"; 
and  doubtless  to  the  great  majority  life  seems,  when  they  stop 
to  think  of  it,  a  rather  humdrum  affair,  made  up  of  prosaic 
routine  duties. 

But  just  here  comes  in  the  opportunity  of  Christian  En- 
deavor,   to    redeem    from    commonplaceness    the    ordinary 


Heroic  Christian  Endeavor.  551 


Two  Heroes  of  China. 

These  men  made  the  perilous  journey  from  Peking  to  Tientsin  to  help 

reheve  the  garrison  at  the  time  of  the  siege. 


552  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

concerns  of  life,  and  to  gild  with  the  halo  of  Christlike  devo- 
tion every  plain  and  unpretentious  duty. 

I  imagine  that  there  has  been  far  more  heroism  than  the 
world  is  apt  to  think,  hidden  away  in  the  obscure  corners  of 
a  Christian  Endeavor  prayer-meeting  or  committee-room.  It 
is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  millions  within  the  twenty-five 
years  past,  urged  by  their  love  for  Christ,  and  stimulated  by 
their  covenant  pledge,  have  with  trembling  voices  and  shaking 
knees  confessed  before  men  Him  whom  their  soul  loved. 
Though  none  suspected  that  they  were  heroes,  their  names 
were  recorded  in  heaven  among  God's  valiant  men  and 
women. 

The  chief  beauty  of  it  all  is  that  they  themselves  never 
suspected  their  own  heroism.  They  did  not  pose  as  valiant 
knights  of  the  cross,  or  in  Addisonian  phrase  ask  the  world  to 
behold  "how  a  Christian  can  die"  or  live.  No,  the  great 
majority  of  these  Endeavor  heroes  have  been  simple,  ordinary, 
every-day  young  men  and  women ;  but  they  were  faithful  to 
duty  at  the  expense  of  their  own  convenience,  time,  and 
pleasure;  and  that  is  the  essence  of  heroism. 

I  shall  never  forget  one  of  these  unconscious  heroines 
whom,  many  years  ago,  I  heard  in  an  Endeavor  prayer-meet- 
ing. She  had  a  serious  impediment  in  her  speech,  which 
prevented  her  from  repeating  even  the  simplest  verse  of  Scrip- 
ture in  the  prayer-meeting  without  painful  stam- 
Unconscious  mcriug.  If  any  one  would  seem  to  have  an  excuse 
which  could  be  conscientiously  given  to  the  Master 
for  not  taking  audible  part  in  the  prayer-meeting,  she  seemed 
to  have;  but  she  would  not  accept  it.  She  had  signed  the 
covenant  pledge,  and  she  would  keep  it.  And  so  at  every 
meeting  she  would  rise,  and,  standing  alone,  would  sing — for 
stammerers  can  often  sing  beautifully — one  verse  of  some 
familiar  hymn,  such  as  "Jesus,  Lover  of  my  soul,"  or  "Jesus,  I 
my  cross  have  taken,  all  to  leave  and  follow  Thee." 


Heroic   Christian    Endeavor.  553 

Another  of  these  unconscious  heroines  was  an  "Arizona 
exile,"  of  whom  the  Rev.  Ernest  Bourner  Allen  tells.  She 
went  to  Arizona  weak  and  worn  in  quest  of  health  and 
strength.  Far  from  friends  and  remote  from  churches,  she 
lived  in  a  tent.  But  the  very  first  Sunday  she  arranged  for  a 
little  Sunday-school  meeting.  Three  were  present,  a  boy  of 
fourteen,  a  Catholic  girl  of  sixteen,  and  herself.  After  two 
or  three  weeks  the  audience  was  greatly  increased  by  the 
presence  of  a  consumptive  Kentuckian,  and  they  were  able  to 
sing  some  of  the  old  hymns.  They  talked  about  the  love  of 
Christ  for  the  world,  and  asked  what  more  they  could  do  about 
it.  The  leader  even  proposed  an  offering  for  missions,  truly 
a  heroic  proposition  under  the  circumstances.  The  girl  gave 
a  nickel;  so  did  the  consumptive  mountaineer.  The  boy  had 
not  even  a  penny,  but  he  suddenly  ran  away  to  the  farmhouse, 
and  brought  back  two  little  neckties  worn  by  himself,  and 
eagerly  asked  whether  they  would  help  anywhere. 

And  what  is  the  result  of  all  this?  The  sixteen-year-old 
girl  became  a  Christian,  and  joined  a  Protestant  church;  the 
Kentuckian  united  with  the  church  when  he  returned  to  his 
home;  the  fourteen-year-old  boy  resolved  to  go  to  Portland, 
Or.,  to  sell  papers  in  order  to  increase  his  gifts  for  missions. 
"I  expect  to  earn  as  much  as  ten  dollars,"  he  said  to  the  sick 
Endeavorer,  who  had  inspired  all  this  devotion.  "Do  you 
suppose  if  I  were  to  send  you  a  check  for  five  dollars  that 
would  be  about  right?"  Such  devotion  and  such  generosity 
need  no  comment. 

The  example  of  the  Maine  Christian  Endeavor  parson* 
also  borders  close  on  heroism,  who,  when  the  hard  winter  left 
many  poor  people  with  insufficient  fuel,  inserted  a  paragraph 
in  the  local  paper,  in  which  he  said  that,  if  some  owner  of 
woodland  would  agree  to  sell  standing  wood  very  cheap  to 

*  The  Rev.   J.   L.   Quimby.     The   story  is  related   by  the   Rev.   C.   D.   Crane  in 
Tl:e  Christian  Endeavor  World. 


554         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

supply  the  need  of  the  suffering  poor,  he  would  volunteer  to 

head  a  crew  of  men  and  go  into  the  woods  and  help 

A  Manly       ^q  chop  it.     "There  was  a  prompt  response,"  we 

and 

Muscular  are  told,  "to  the  appeal  of  the  manly  and  muscular 
parson,  who  had  no  difficulty  in  securing  an  efficient 
crew  of  wood-choppers.  Nearly  every  man  on  the  business 
street  of  Gardner  was  ready  either  to  go  into  the  woods  him- 
self or  hire  a  substitute,  so  that  the  problem  of  fuel-supply  for 
the  needy  was  met  in  an  original  and  altogether  Christian 
way." 

One  of  the  most  difficult  things  for  young  Christians  to 
do  is  often  to  acknowledge  their  allegiance  to  their  Master 
when  in  unusual  places.  It  is  comparatively  easy  at  home  in 
their  own  church,  but  when  abroad  among  strangers,  who  may 
be  unsympathetic,  it  is  a  different  matter,  and  it  requires  no 
little  Christian  stamina  and  courage.  Thirty-three  young 
ladies  recently  found  themselves  at  the  Appledore  House,  in 
the  Isles  of  Shoals,  engaged  as  waitresses  in  a  big  hotel.  Some 
„     .  of  them  were  college  girls  earning:  their  next  year's 

Heroines  b      to  t,  j 

in  a  tuition.     Many  of  them  were  Christians,  and  they 

did  not  furl  their  colors.  They  formed  themselves 
into  a  Christian  Endeavor  society,  and  held  their  meetings 
sometimes  upon  the  rocks,  and  sometimes  in  one  of  the  public 
rooms  set  apart  for  the  employees.  Who  will  say  that  they 
were  not  heroines  in  every-day  life? 

But  sometimes  we  read  stories  of  Endeavorers  who  out 
of  the  ordinary  course  perform  deeds  which  even  the  unsym- 
pathetic world  would  call  heroic,  deeds  which  would  entitle 
them  to  a  Carnegie  medal,  were  such  a  decoration  ever  award- 
ed to  simple  Christian  heroism.  For  instance,  in  Tarsus,  the 
"no  mean  city"  of  which  the  apostle  was  so  proud  as  his  birth- 
place, is  a  St.  Paul's  Institute  for  Armenian  boys,  under 
American  patronage.  The  writer  was  at  this  Institute  just 
before  the  awful  Armenian  massacres  of   1893-94.     Among 


Heroic  Christian  Endeavor.  555 

the  Endeavorers  in  the  school  were  several  who  gave  their 
lives  for  their  faith.  One  lad  of  sixteen  or  seventeen,  the 
president  of  the  younger  society,  whose  bright  face  and  ear- 
nest words  I  remember  distinctly,  was  arrested  by  the  Turks, 
and  was  about  to  be  killed.  He  was  told  that  if  he 
Armenians,  objured  his  faith  his  life  would  be  saved,  but  he  res- 
olutely refused.  "You  need  not  curse  your  old 
religion;  but  just  hold  up  two  fingers  to  show  that  you  have 
turned  to  Islamism,  and  we  will  spare  you,"  they  said,  but 
the  brave  Endeavorer  refused,  and  had  soon  joined  the  ranks 
of  the  martyrs. 

Many  such  heroic  deeds  are  to-day  enacted  in  Turkey, 
even  though  life  is  not  forfeited  for  the  faith.  In  some  parts 
of  Turkey  the  very  name  of  Christian  Endeavor  cannot  be 
used.  There  can  be  no  constitution  signed,  and  the  society 
must  be  called  merely  a  prayer-meeting.  Under  no  circum- 
stances can  they  sing  "Hold  the  Fort,"  or  "Onward,  Christian 
Soldiers,"  and  yet  Christian  Endeavor  work  is  done  in  almost 
every  mission  station,  and  in  many  respects  the  Armenian  En- 
deavorers set  an  example  to  the  rest  of  us. 

They  have  also  some  novel  committees,  which  we  might 
well  copy,  like  the  "Bible-reading  committee,"  whose  duty 
it  is  to  read  the  Bible  to  those  who  are  not  able  to  read  it  for 
themselves,  and  the  "text-teaching  committee,"  which  per- 
forms a  somewhat  similar  duty. 

Out  of  their  great  poverty  these  Endeavorers,  too,  con- 
tribute liberally  to  missions,  and  are  supporting  Bible  schools 
and  Bible  women  in  India  and  China,  as  well  as  in  their  own 
land. 

The  story  of  Christian  Endeavor  among  the  lepers  is 
one  of  splendid  heroism.  There  are  several  such  societies, 
and  more  than  one  Endeavorer  has  gone  from  a  happy  home 
life  to  what  every  one  but  a  devoted  Christian  would  consider 
a  loathsome  task,  where  every  day  their  lives  are  exposed  to 


556  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

the  danger  of  the  most  dreadful  contagion.  The  Leper 
Christian  Home  in  Surinam  has  been  helped  especially  by 
Endeavor      the  Endcavorcrs  of  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  and  those  who 

among  .  .  r    •   i    r    i    t-     j  t-i 

I  the  are  carrymg  it  on  are  faithful  bndeavorers.      Ihe 

^P^*"*'         wounds  of  the  lepers  are  dressed  at  least  twice  a 

day,  and  since  they  have  not  sufficient  bandages  the  Christian 

Endeavor  nurses  must  wash  them  out  every  day,  a  dreadful 

task,  which  might  cause  contagion   at  any  time.     But  it  is 


""^"^j^HRGBIQ^            '^^^^^^^Bo^^Sa^- 

''KAi 

p..    q 

L.  "ijB^slBBiBP^"™^- ''*' 

{- 

W^ 

...'  -f"^' "- rWl^ffjl 

^^flP^^^ -"^^^^^^^ 

Christian  Endeavorci  ^  Aniuiig  the  Lepers. 

done  cheerfully  and  gladly,  out  of  love  for  the  lepers  and 
Christ,  who  died  for  them. 

The  heroism  of  St.  Francis  has  been  exalted  throughout 
all  the  ages  since  his  day  because  he  overcame  his  natural 
repugnance  to  leprosy,  and  cared  for  the  loathsome  sufferers; 
but  many  a  Christian  Endeavorer  has  been  no  less  brave,  and 
has  been  inspired  by  the  very  same  motive  that  influenced  the 
saint  of  Assisi. 


Heroic  Christian  Endeavor.  557 

The  Rev.  Herbert  Halliwell  tells  us  that  he  reached 
Nellore  in  India  during  a  terrible  epidemic  of  cholera,  when 
people,  mostly  non-Christians,  were  dying  on  every  hand.  "I 
stayed  long  enough,"  he  says,  "to  witness  two  beautiful  sights. 
One  was  the  going  out  two  by  two  of  the  Christian  Endeavor 
members  (young  women  of  the  high  school)  to  nurse  Hindu 
and  Mohammedan  cholera  patients,  and  the  other  the  bap- 
tism at  one  time  of  a  Brahman  widow  and  a  Malo  woman, 
representatives  of  the  highest  and  one  of  the  lowest  castes. 
Both  these  incidents  were  sights  worth  travelling  across  a 
continent  to  witness.  Remember,  you  who  read  this,  that  the 
Indian  dreads  nothing  so  much  as  cholera,  and  no  wonder;  and 
yet  these  Christian  Endeavor  comrades,  for  no 
Heroes.  Other  reason  than  love  to  their  Saviour  and  pity 
for  their  poor  sisters,  went  down  into  the  very 
heart  of  the  cholera  region,  and  nursed  Mohammedan 
women,  nursed  them  in  many  cases  back  to  life,  and  spoke  to 
them  when  they  were  well  enough  to  hear  of  the  great  Healer 
of  the  soul.  For  myself,  I  have  no  hesitation  in  ranking  these 
Indian  sisters  amongst  the  heroines  of  our  time. 

"The  other  scene  is  a  strangely  stirring  one,  too, — the 
Brahman  and  the  Malo  going  down  into  the  waters  of  bap- 
tism together,  caste,  whether  high  or  low,  forever  left  behind, 
'a  new  creation,'  children  of  God  by  faith  in  the  world's  Re- 
deemer." 

Of  late  years  the  world  has  looked  to  China  largely  for 
its  examples  of  Christian  heroism,  and  it  has  not  looked  in 
vain.  Other  chapters  have  told  of  the  Endeavor  martyrs  of 
Peking  and  Pao-ting-fu,  who  counted  not  their  lives  dear 
unto  them.  It  is  said  that,  when  one  of  the  societies  in  Peking 
came  together  after  the  siege,  it  was  found  that  more  than  half 
had  given  their  lives  for  their  faith.  I  remember  well  this 
society  in  the  month  of  May,  1900.  Then  there  were  forty- 
five  members.     I  can  see  them  now,  as  they  sat  in  their  little 


5s8  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

chapel,  some  old  men  and  women,  others  young  men  and 
women,  some  but  little  more  than  children.  When  the  roll 
was  called,  the  following  September,  at  the  first  meeting  after 
the  siege,  but  twenty-two  could  respond  to  their  names.  The 
majority  had  joined  "the  noble  army  of  martyrs." 

Many    individual    instances    of    heroism    are   recorded 
among  the  Endeavorers  of  China.     I  have  space  for  but  one 


Mr.    Tung  and  His  Family. 

of  these  stories.     Miss  Nellie  N.  Russell,  a  most  devoted  and 
„  successful  missionary  of  the  American  Board,  tells 

Heroes  ■^  ' 

of  us  of  Mr.  Tung,  who  was  a  very  wealthy  man,  and 

related  to  the  first  families  of  Cho-chou.  But  he 
had  lived  a  fast  life,  and,  through  his  intemperance,  had  be- 
come insane.  Two  soldiers  had  been  appointed  to  stay  with 
him  day  and  night  to  keep  him  from  injuring  himself  and 
others.  He  was  a  terror  to  his  wife  and  children  and  to  all 
his  neighbors.     Through  the  efforts  of  the  missionary,  how- 


Heroic  Christian  Endeavor.  559 

ever,  and  the  native  Christians  he  was  brought  to  Christ.  He 
went  to  Peking  for  the  express  purpose  of  being  with  Dr. 
Ament  and  learning  from  him  more  about  the  way  of  salva- 
tion. 

At  the  end  of  a  month  he  went  home,  and  instituted  morn- 
ing prayers  with  his  family,  servants  and  workmen.  All 
looked  on  him  with  suspicion  and  amusement,  and,  as  the  days 
came  and  went,  with  amazement.  But  it  was  no  transient 
thing.  He  was  no  longer  the  maniac  crazed  by  drink,  but 
Christ's  humble  servant.  During  the  siege  of  Peking  he 
worked  hard  to  protect  the  legation  from  fire,  though  he  was 
a  very  large  man  and  unused  to  work.  But  he  was  ever  ready 
to  wait  on  any  one,  going  to  the  well  for  water,  taking  care  of 
the  sleeping-room  of  the  foreign  gentlemen,  though  he  had 
been  all  his  life  used  to  being  waited  on  by  his  own  servants. 
After  the  siege  was  raised  he  acted  for  two  months  as  a  gate- 
keeper of  the  mission  premises,  running  on  all  kinds  of 
errands,  and  ever  a  true  gentleman.  In  prayer-meetings  he 
was  first  on  his  feet,  and  he  never  missed  an  opportunity  to  wit- 
ness for  Christ  and  to  tell  from  what  a  bondage  he  has 
escaped.  Who  will  say  that  Mr.  Tung  is  not  a  Christian  En- 
deavor hero? 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 
CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR  IN  SONG. 

DISTINGUISHED  AUTHORS,  AS  WELL  AS  THOSE  LESS 
KNOWN,  HAVE  CONTRIBUTED  TO  THE  HYMNOLOGY 
OF  CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR,  AND  TO  MANY  POPULAR 
AND  BEAUTIFUL  SONGS  THE  SOCIETY  HAS  GIVEN 
WINGS  WITH  WHICH  TO  FLY  THROUGHOUT  THE 
WORLD,  AS  THESE  SONGS  HAVE  BEEN  TRANSLATED 
INTO  MANY  TONGUES. 

"  Around  the  world  the  chorus  rings. 
And  hands  are  joined  with  hands, 
A  Brotherhood  of  Service  sings 

In  all  the  happy  lands; 
And  blithe  they  sound  the  watchword  still 

That  ever  has  sufficed : 
'  The  will !     The  will !  the  blessed  will ! 
The  will  of  Jesus  Christ! 

Professor  Atnos  R.  Wells. 

iT  would  be  surprising  indeed  if  the  Christian 
^  Endeavor  movement  had  not  added  something 
of  value  to  the  w^orld's  hymnology.  It  has  not 
concerned  itself  greatly  with  classical  music,  but 
it  has  voiced  the  outpouring  of  the  religious 
heart  in  song  in  a  remarkable  way.  Its  great  conventions 
have  given  it  an  opportunity  to  do  this  such  as  no  other  or- 
ganization has  enjoyed,  and  its  international  and  interdenomi- 
national character  has  given  it  the  widest  possible  range  of 
selection  of  hymns  and  tunes  from  every  land  and  every 
denomination  of  Christians. 

Some  poets  of  no  mean  ability  have  contributed  to  the 
Christian  Endeavor  hymnology.  Among  the  first  who  were 
enlisted  in  its  behalf  was  President  J.  E.  Rankin,  the  author 

560 


christian  Endeavor  in  Song.  561 


Percy  S.  Foster, 
Washington,  D.   C. 


Leaders  in  Song. 

F.  H.  Jacobs, 
New  York. 


H.  C.  Lincoln, 
Philadelphia. 


562         Cliristian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

of  the  most  famous  hymn  of  modern  times,  "God  be  with  you 
till  we  meet  again,"  which  was  soon  adopted  everywhere  as 
the  Christian  Endeavorer's  parting  hymn.  One  that  he  wrote 
especially  for  the  first  Saratoga  convention  is  a  stirring  one, 
with  the  chorus, 

'Keep  your  colors  flying; 

Stand  for  God  and  truth; 
Keep  your  colors  flying, 
All  ye  Christian  youth." 

^r^,.^^, a^^^^ji.  ^^--^^i'<^  Thc  Rcv.  Samuel  F.  Smith, 

^.^■.^^-^  p    J)     the  beloved   author  of 

^z^,  '^  <0r^  ^cc  ^C-i^i^. '  "America,"  wrote  at  least  two 

.X*/-^^  o^^.^^  ^./*,^*/y<^  Christian    Endeavor   hymns    in 

//..^^^.^«^^/r-<x;;-^/-^'^  his  old  age,  one  of  which  is  here 

/T^SZ^oy^y^'^^Z  ^'^'^^-->'^^''A-  given  in  facsimile,  showing  the 
^..^i^ /.j,^^'^.^''^^ "'  ^'^'^'^■^   beautiful   chirography  of  Am- 

.<^:i/..^lw//^^/.^^^i-  erica's   national   poet  when   he 

,i^„^^^^y.^^,2^''^-  was  well  past  his  eightieth  year. 

.//i^^^^ZSz^y^  Another   poet   of    national 

Si^,  >^'i»^'^^'(-f'^^'^y^  reputation,  who  has  written   a 

'^-'13^^'^'Ttr^^  Christian    Endeavor    hymn,    is 

/^^a^u^y^^'-^^^'-y^  the   late   Hon.   John   Hay,   the 

cO./-^^^-'^'-^-^-'^  celebrated      diplomatist      and 

.j^Z/A^^j^rr',^,.  statesman.       1  his     hymn     was 

*^  '^^'i  ^^^'^f^-  written  originally  for  the  Fif- 

^,^/r»(^/<«./V'^A-^'"^'!^*''^'<-  teenth     International     Conven- 

^^j^a.^ur:7^c.,.^^^.'^^^^,^p^-<^  tion    at  Washington,   where    it 

/Zj^yj.^^^/^/^-.^^y'^/'^^'''^^-  was  sung  with  great  effect. 
.^^^^c.y^.4v^r^'^  ^-^"^"i^  Afterwards,  when  in  1897  the 
e^^^^^^^^^jX"^^/  B^itigh  convention  was  held  in 
^^H'^^^f^'"^^  ^yf^  Liverpool,  and  Mr.  Hay  was  the 

^^^'^  _  •  American  minister  to  the  Court 

of  St.  James,  I  obtained  from 


"^u.C-^.^'Y^d 


him   especial   permission    to   have   this   hymn   sung   at   the 


christian  Endeavor  in  Song.  563 

Liverpool  convention  as  his  contribution  to  the  opening  ses- 
sion. At  that  time  he  assured  me  that  it  was  the  only  hymn 
he  ever  wrote,  though  it  has  since  been  learned  that  two  other 

poems  of  his  have  found  their  way  into  some  of  our 
johii  church  hymn-books.  But,  unless  there  was  a  slip  in 
Hay^s     jyij.    Hay's  memory,  they  were  written  not  as  hymns, 

but  as  religious  poems,  without  any  thought  of  their 
being  set  to  music.  In  1905,  when  the  American  convention 
met  in  Baltimore,  this  hymn,  which  had  been  set  to  new 
music  by  Mr.  Percy  S.  Foster,  the  beloved  precentor  of  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  conventions,  was  sung  at  the  opening  session, 
and,  as  it  proved,  upon  the  very  day  when  Mr.  Hay,  amid  the 
tears  of  the  nation,  was  laid  in  his  last  resting-place  at  Cleve- 
land:   Here  is  the  hymn: 

"Lord,  from  far-severed  climes  we  come 
To  meet  at  last  in  Thee,  our  home. 
Thou  who  hast  been  our  guide  and  guard 
Be  still  our  hope,  our  rich  reward. 

^'Defend  us.  Lord,  from  every  ill; 
Strengthen  our  hearts  to  do  Thy  will; 
In  all  we  plan  and  all  we  do 
Still  keep  us  to  Thy  service  true. 

"O  let  us  hear  the  inspiring  word 
Which  they  of  old  at  Horeb  heard. 
Breathe  to  our  hearts  the  high  command: 
'Go  onward  and  possess  the  land.' 

"Thou  who  art  light,  shine  on  each  soul; 
Thou  who  art  truth,  each  mind  control ; 
Open  our  eyes,  and  make  us  see 
The  path  which  leads  to  heaven  and  Thee." 

The  Rev.  Charles  M.  Sheldon,  D.D.,  Marianne  Farning- 
ham,  Amos  R.  Wells,  and  the  Rev.  Theodor  Monod  are 
other  well-known  authors  who  have  contributed  distinctively 
Christian  Endeavor  hymns. 


564  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

The  first  attempt  to  provide  a  distinctively  Christian  En- 
deavor hymn-book  was  made  by  the  Rev.  S.  W.  Adriance  by 
the  publication  of  a  small  volume  entitled  "Hymns  of 
Christian  Endeavor."  This  book  contained  original  hymns 
and  tunes  by  Dr.  Rankin,  the  Rev.  R.  DeWitt  Mallary,  the 
Rev.  Dwight  M.  Pratt,  D.D.,  the  Rev.  J.  O.  Barrows,  the 
Rev.  Joel  S.  Ives,  the  Rev.  T.  S.  Perry,  the  Rev.  C.  H.  Oli- 
phant,  the  Rev.  Henry  N.  Kinney,  Mr.  Adriance  himself,  and 
others,  stanch  friends  of  Christian  Endeavor,  who  combined 
the  poetic  gift  with  their  love  for  the  Society. 

After  this  first  book  had  run  its  course  several  Christian 
Endeavor  editions  of  "Gospel  Hymns"  were  prepared  by  Mr, 
Ira  D.  Sankey,  which  contained  some  of  his  own  choicest 
hymns  and  tunes,  as  well  as  those  of  other  gospel  singers  like 
Mr.  Stebbins,  Mr.  Excell,  and  others.  Some  of  Fanny 
Crosby's  best  hymns  were  written  for  the  Society  and  pub- 
lished in  these  books. 

In  1901  the  United  Society  in  America  felt  that  the  time 

had  come  for  it  to  publish  another  hymn-book  distinctively 

its  own;  and  the  matter  was  put  into  the  hands  of 

The  '  ,  ^ 

Endeavor  a  Special  Committee,  consisting  of  the  Rev.  Charles 
ymna.  ^  Dickiuson,  D.D.,  the  Rev.  Howard  B.  Grose, 
and  the  Rev.  James  L.  Hill,  D.D.  The  committee  was  sub- 
sequently enlarged  by  the  addition  of  the  Rev.  Maltbie  D. 
Babcock,  D.D.,  the  Rev.  J.  Wilbur  Chapman,  D.D.,  and  Mr. 
F.  H.  Jacobs.  They  were  assisted  with  suggestions  and  lists 
of  hymns  from  many  eminent  ministers  of  all  denominations, 
and  the  Rev.  R.  DeWitt  Mallary  and  Mrs.  James  L.  Hill 
placed  their  collections  of  hymns  freely  at  the  disposal  of 
the  committee.  The  result  of  this  effort  has  been  a  hymn- 
book  which  has  met  with  very  wide  approval  and  a  large  sale. 
Its  tendency  has  been  very  decidedly  to  raise  the  standard  of 
the  singing  in  the  young  people's  societies.  Many  of  the  best 
old  pieces,  set  to  the  highest  class  of  music  which  is  at  the  same 


Christian   Endeavor  in  Song.  565 

time  singable  and  popular,  have  been  included  in  this  book, 
while  many  new  favorites  have  been  added. 

It  has  been  the  aim  of  the  compilers  to  avoid  jingles  and 
"ragtime,"  while  at  the  same  time  having  many  tunes  of  sim- 
ple harmony  that  those  who  are  least  cultivated  musically  can 
appreciate.  As  I  write  a  new  and  improved  edition  of  this 
book  is  in  press,  and  a  new  Junior  hymn-book,  "Junior 
Carols,"  following  the  same  lines  and  compiled  by  Mr. 
Charles  S.  Brown  and  Mr.  George  B.  Grafif,  has  just  been 
published. 

In  Great  Britain  Christian  Endeavor  hymnology  has 
advanced  even  more  rapidly  than  in  America,  for  as  a  rule 
congregational  singing  is  much  better  in  the  mother  country, 
where  the  churches  have  not  been  so  much  afflicted  with  oper- 
atic choirs,  and  where  people  are  far  less  closely  tied  to  their 
notes  than  in  America.  The  English  "Christian  Endeavour 
Hymnal,"  edited  by  the  Rev.  Joseph  Brown  Morgan  and  the 
Rev.  Carey  Bonner,  is  a  large  and  admirable  selection  of  the 
best  hymns  ancient  and  modern  for  young  people's  us*e. 

It  is  difficult  to  pick  out  especial  favorites,  since  tastes 
dififer  so  widely,  but  a  few  hymns  have  found  large  acceptance 
on  both  sides  of  the  sea.  One  of  these  is  by  the  Rev.  Charles 
A.  Dickinson,  D.D.,  a  trustee  of  the  United  Society,  and  the 
story  connected  with  it  is  worth  repeating.  In  1891  the 
writer,  accompanied  by  his  dear  friend  Dr.  Dickin- 
sto%  son,  went  to  Europe  in  the  interests  of  the  Chris- 

2I  ^  tian  Endeavor  movement,  as  has  been  before  men- 

nymn.  ' 

tioned.  After  several  weeks  in  Great  Britain,  and 
a  little  more  time  spent  in  travel  on  the  Continent,  they 
returned  to  Boston  in  the  same  steamer.  On  the  way  a  terrible 
storm  overtook  the  steamer,  which  for  three  days  labored 
heavily  in  the  waves,  and  made  but  little  progress.  On  the 
fourth  day  the  storm  subsided;  the  sun  broke  forth  from  the 
clouds;  and  Dr.  Dickinson,  in  whom  the  poetic  instinct  was 


566         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

always  strong  (and  who  had  been  the  poet  of  his  class  at 
Harvard),  sat  down  on  deck  and  wrote  the  hymn  which  is 
given  herewith.  It  was  afterwards  set  to  music  arranged 
from  a  German  choral,  and  is  now  sung  by  Endeavorers 
the  world  around.     It  is  given  below. 


i/if\ll,/i4^JiipU4^iii-ll^ 


1.  O    gold-en    day,  so    long  de- sired,Bom  of      a  darksome  night,  The  wait- ing earth  at 

2.  The  noi  -  ses  of    the  night  shall  cease,The  storms  no  longer     roar;  The  fac-tious  foes  of 

3.  Sing  on,  ye  cho-rus    of     the  morn.Your  grand  en-deavor  strain,  Till  Christian  hearts  es 

4.  O      gold-en  day,  the    a     ges'crown,  A  -  light  with  heavenly  love, Rare  day    in  proph-e 


mif9-rhf=f=-^m^ 


& 


itr 


^^^^^^^^^^^ 


last        is     fired      By  Thy   re-splen  -  dent   light.  And  hark  Hike  Memnon'smom-ing  chord 

God's    own  peace  Shall  vex  His    church  no  more.     A      thousand  thou-sand  voi  -  ces  sing 

tranged  and  torn    Blend  in       the  glad     re-  frain;  And    all  the  church,with  all    itspow'rs, 

cy         re -nown.      On  to      thy"ie       nith  move.   When  all    theworld,withone    accord. 


b#^-H=tf-MN^fe^ 


^ 


^^^^^^p^^^ 


Is  heard  from  sea  to  sea  This  song :  One  Master.Christ  the  Lord ;  And  brethren  all  are  wo. 
The  surging  harmo- ny ;  One  Master.Christ ;  one  Saviour-King  ;And  brethren  all  are  we. 
In  lov-ing  loy-al  -  ty  Shallsing:OneMaster,Christ,i3  0urs;  And  brethren  all  are  wa 
In  f  uU- voiced  u-ni  -  ty  Shall  sing:  One  Master.Christ  our  Lord;  And  brethren  all  are  wo. 


I 


The  Rev.  John  Pollock,  a  Scotchman,  who  is  pastor  of 
St.  Enoch's  Presbyterian  Church  of  Belfast,  is  another  popular 
Christian  Endeavor  poet,  who  writes  both  the  words  and  the 
music  to  which  they  are  sung.  His  "Scotland  for  Christ  " 
and  his  "Ireland  for  Christ"  have  remarkable  power,  and  are 
characteristic  of  the  music  of  the  two  countries.     His  "For 


Christian  Endeavor  in  Song. 


567 


568  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

Christ  and  the  Church"  has  also  a  glorious  "swing"  to  it,  and 

when  sung,  as  it  often  is,  at  the  great  conventions, 

?®u*  both  in  Great  Britain  and  in  America,  it  has  set 

John  ... 

Pollock's       niany  hearts  beating  fast,  and  inspired  many  young 
souls  to  new  endeavor  and  new  love  for  the  church. 
I  quote  a  verse  from  it: 

"Our  lives  to  Christ  we  dedicate. 
Who  reigns  our  glorious  King; 
May  He  receive  and  consecrate 

The  tribute  that  we  bring! 
And  to  His  church  we  gladly  give 

Our  service  and  our  all, 
For  in  her  voice  we  still  rejoice 
To  hear  His  royal  call. 
Chorus: 

"For  Christ,  for  Christ,  and  the  church  of  Christ! 
Be  this  our  fond  endeavor! 
For  Christ,  for  Christ,  and  the  church  of  Christ! 
These  twain  no  power  can  sever; 

One  on  earth  and  one  in  heaven, 
Forever  and  forever." 

It  is  interesting  in  this  connection  to  quote  a  few  lines 
from  a  free  German  translation  of  Mr.  Pollock's  hymn: 

"Das  Leben  weihen  wir  dem  Herrn,  der  unser  Konig  ist. 

Wie  nahen  wir,  sein  Leib,  so  gern  dem  Haupte  Jesus  Christ 
Ihm  und  der  Kirche  allezeit  lasst  Dienst  bereit  uns  stehen 

Und  lasst  des  Hauptes  Heiligkeit  in  seinen  Gliedern  sehen." 

It  will  perhaps  interest  my  readers  to  see  a  familiar  friend 
in  a  new  dress,  and  so  I  reproduce  on  the  opposite  page  the 
French  translation  of  "  Blest  be  the  tie,"  made  by  the  gifted 
wife  of  the  secreta-ry  of  Christian  Endeavor  for  Switzerland. 

The  Rev.  Joseph  Brown  Morgan,  of  Bradford,  England, 
has  contributed  some  admirable  pieces  to  the  British  Endeavor 
hymnal,  as  well  as  much  careful  editing. 


christian   Endeavor  in  Song. 


569 


It  is  impossible  even  to  mention  all  who  have  contributed 
most  helpfully  to  Christian  Endeavor  song,  but  the  Rev. 
How^ard  B.  Grose,  editorial  secretary  of  the  Baptist  Home 
Missionary  Society,  should  be  credited  with  some  excellent 
hymns  and  tunes,  and  Mr.  Charles  S.  Brown  as  well,  who  has 
for  many  years  been  a  faithful  and  efficient  worker  upon  The 
Christian  Endeavor  World,  being  at  the  head  of  one  of  its 
business  departments. 

The  great  conventions  have  naturally  given  the  widest 
scope  for  the  expression  of  the  musical  talents  of  Christian 


L-&i'}^  P'  I  I 


LU^i-i- 


^ 


^ 


;^^5 


\ 


Endeavorers.  I  have  already  alluded  to  the  great  praise 
service  held  on  the  east  front  of  the  Capitol  at  the  time  of  the 
Washington  convention,  under  the  lead  of  Mr.  Percy  S. 
Foster.  But  there  have  been  other  praise  services  scarcely  less 
memorable,  and  other  leaders  who  are  also  greatly  beloved. 
Among  these  are  Mr.  F.  H.  Jacobs,  who  is  in  large  demand 
throughout  the  country;  Richard  A.  Harris,  of  Baltimore; 
Mr.  Lincoln,  of  Philadelphia;  and  Mr.  Washburn,  of  Boston; 
and   Mr.    Marcusson,    of   Chicago,     In   fact,    almost   every 


570         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

Christian  Endeavor  centre  has  its  favorite  musical  leader,  who 
for  no  profit  or  glory,  and  with  no  hymn-books  or  music  to 
sell,  gives  his  time  and  abilities  freely  to  the  convention. 
Well-known  gospel  singers,  too,  like  E.  O.  Excell,  Mr.  Peter 
Bilhorn,  Mr.  George  C.  Stebbins,  Mr.  Estey,  Mr.  Alexander, 
and  others  are  heard  at  the  Christian  Endeavor  conventions. 

Perhaps  the  leader  who  has  made  the  deepest  impression 
upon  the  Christian  Endeavor  public  in  two  hemispheres  by 

his  unique  "Festivals  of  Praise"  is  the  Rev.  Carey 
Wonderful  Bonner  of  London.  These  great  praise  services 
Festival        have  long  been  known  and  appreciated  in  Great 

Britain,  and  an  important  convention  is  hardly  com- 
plete without  them.  But  in  1905  for  the  first  time  Mr.  Bon- 
ner was  induced  to  come  to  America  to  conduct  such  a  service 
at  Baltimore.  This  will  never  be  forgotten  by  those  who 
heard  it.  It  was  called  "An  International  Festival  of  Praise," 
and  it  well  deserved  its  name.  It  opened  with  the  "Sanctus," 
"Holy,  Holy,  Holy."  "The  Aaronic  Blessing"  was  sung  in 
unison  by  many  voices,  and  repeated  by  the  full  choir,  to  one 
of  the  oldest  of  the  Hebrew  melodies.  China's  praises  were 
sung  to  a  typical  native  Chinese  air,  composed  entirely  on  the 
five-tone  or  pentatonic  scale.  The  words  were  written  and  the 
music  harmonized  by  Mr.  Bonner,  and  the  melody  was  pecul- 
iarly effective.  India's  praise  was  represented  by  two  Ben- 
gali songs,  translated  by  the  Rev.  William  Carey.  One  of 
them,  called  "The  Endeavor  Band,"  was  very  remarkable  in 
both  melody  and  rhythm,  utterly  unlike  any  sacred  music 
heard  in  Europe  or  America.  The  Bengali  hymn  "O,  my 
soul,  do  not  forget  Him,"  was  written  by  Krishna  Pal,  the 
first  convert  baptized  at  Serampore. 

The  praises  of  Africa  were  illustrated  by  two  well- 
known  American  negro  songs,  entitled  "Turn  Back  Pharaoh's 
army,"  and  "We  shall  walk  through  the  valley."  The  praises 
of  Great  Britain  were  given  in  the  words  of  the  old  hymn  writ- 


christian  Endeavor  in  Song.  571 

ten  by  Edward  Perronet,  the  helper  of  John  Wesley,  "Crown 
Him  Lord  of  all."  The  praises  of  America  were  expressed 
by  the  words  of  Dr.  Ray  Palmer's  hymn,  "My  faith  looks  up 
to  Thee,"  set  to  Dr.  Lowell  Mason's  tune  "Olivet."  Jemima 
Luke's  beautiful  hymn,  "I  think  when  I  read  that  sweet  story 
of  old,"  was  sung  by  the  children's  choir.  The  venerable 
authoress,  living  then  in  retirement  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  sent 
with  her  portrait  a  message  of  greeting  to  the  children  of 
America. 

The  spell  of  such  a  service  it  is  impossible  to  describe  in 
cold  print.  It  seemed  far  more  than  a  service  of  song,  it  was 
a  service  of  communion  with  God,  of  fellowship  with  all  His 
people;  a  solemn,  heart-searching,  tear-compelling  service, 
which  those  who  have  once  heard  it  can  never  forget. 

Among  Christian  Endeavor  poets  many  writers  should 
be  recorded,  but  I  must  at  least  mention  the  Rev.  Ernest  W. 
Shurtlefif,  now  engaged  in  work  for  students  in  Paris,  who 
has  written  two  admirable  convention  poems,  and  the  Rev.  J. 
N.  Davidson,  of  Wisconsin,  some  of  whose  short  hymns  and 
poems  are  excellent. 

To  turn  from  the  more  serious  convention  songs  to  those 
which  tell  of  patriotism  and  State  pride  and  love  is  not  a  sharp 
transition,  for  even  in  the  loudest  State  choruses  there  is  much 
of  religious  fervor  and  gospel  zeal.  Every  State  now,  with 
possibly  one  or  two  exceptions,  has  its  authorized  State 
Christian  Endeavor  song.  Some  of  them,  it  must  be  con- 
fessed, are  not  of  the  highest  poetical  character.  The  char- 
acteristics of  the  State  are  sometimes  brought  in  to  the  detri- 
ment of  the  rhythm;  but  each  one  answers  its  purpose,  some 
of  them  remarkably  well.  Wherever  there  is  a  distinctively 
popular  State  song,  as  in  Maryland  and  Kentucky,  the  tune 
is  put  under  bonds  by  the  Endeavorers,  and  is  wedded  to  their 
own  words.  Thus  the  beautiful  tune  of  "Maryland,  my 
Maryland,"  often  makes  the  welkin  ring  as  the  Maryland 


572  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

delegation  in  the  great  conventions,  joined  perhaps  by  ten 
thousand  others,  sing: 

"File  into  rank  for  Christ  to-day, 

O  Maryland,  dear  Maryland; 
Free  to  the  breeze  His  banners  play, 

Maryland,  dear  Maryland. 
Your  noblest  work  for  Him  be  done, 
From  early  dawn  to  setting  sun, 
Nor  cease,  till  latest  victory's  won, 

Maryland,  my  Maryland. 

CHORUS. 

"Shout,  shout  for  joy  the  glad  refrain, 

Maryland,  my  Maryland. 
Our  King  shall  claim  His  own  again, 
Maryland,  my  Maryland." 


A  Christian  Endeavor  Orphan  Asylum  Band  in  Japan. 

Kentucky,    too,    has   a    peculiarly   beautiful    and    plaintive 
air,  which  is  all  its  own,  "  My  Old  Kentucky  Home ;"  and  to 


Christian   Endeavor  in  Song.  573 

this  tune  have  been  set  some  appropriate  words,  which,  as  they 
have  been  sung  at  consecration  meetings  in  the  conventions 
great  and  small,  when  the  Kentucky  delegation  has  been  called 
upon,  has  brought  tears  to  many  eyes;  but  they  are  tears  of  joy 
at  the  thought  of  the  devoted  "Endeavor  bands"  who  sing 
them.     Here  is  one  verse  of  this  song  with  its  chorus : 

"The  valiant  hosts  of  our  great  Endeavor  band, 

With  banners  triumphant  unfurled. 
Are  gath'ring  now  at  our  mighty  King's  command. 

To  bear  His  standard  round  the  world, 
With  faith  in  God  as  our  ever-shining  shield. 

With  firmness,  with  patience  and  love, 
We'll  stand  for  Christ  till  the  world  to  Him  shall  yield. 

And  the  flag  of  union  floats  above. 

"Shout  aloud,  'Hosanna';  O,  praise  our  God  to-day, 

'For  Christ  and  the  Church,'  and  our  blest 
Endeavor  bands  in  the  old  Kentucky  home  far  away." 

The  Massachusetts  State  song  is  sung  to  the  tune  of  "Fair 
Harvard."  It  was  written  by  Dr.  Dickinson,  and  is  one  of  the 
best  of  all.     The  last  verse  is  as  follows: 

"From  the  Bay  to  the  Berkshires  the  sun  ever  shines 

On  the  flag  that  shall  never  be  furled; 
Thy  hillsides  and  valleys  all  shelter  the  shrines 

Of  the  faith  that  shall  conquer  the  world. 
Mother  State  of  the  Union,  thy  heart,  ever  young, 

For  the  Union  shall  beat  ever  sure. 
Commonwealth  of  the  noble,  thy  praise  shall  be  sung 

While  the  noble  and  free  shall  endure." 

Another  writer  who  has  contributed  not  a  little  to  the 
worthy  hymnology  of  Christian  Endeavor  is  Mr.  John  R. 
Clements,  who  has  written  two  or  three  of  the  State  songs,  as 
well  as  some  popular  gospel  hymns. 

Here  is  a  verse  of  his  New  York  State  song: 


574  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


"Sing  our  New  York  marching-song, 

And  sing  it  loud  and  free; 
Let  the  music  float  along 

From  Erie  to  the  sea: 
Every  heart  may  catch  the  strain, 

And  peal  it  forth  with  glee, 

For  we  are  soldiers  of  Jesus." 

A  stanza  of  Canada's  stirring  Endeavor  hymn  sung  to 
the  tune  of  "The  Maple  Leaf"  is  as  follows: 

"From  broad  Pacific's  golden  strand 

To  old  Atlantic's  waves  we  claim 
Our  beautiful  Canadian  land 

In  Christ  our  Leader's  name; 
And  filled  with  Pentecostal  might 

We  forward  march  forever, 
Sin's  forces  in  God's  strength  to  fight 

With  sanctified  endeavor." 


A  number  of  the  States  have 
adopted  as  their  own  some  favorite 
gospel  hymn,  and  many  of  them  have 
set  their  own  words  to  a  favorite  evan- 
gelistic tune.  Thus  California,  the 
"Sunshine  State,"  has  taken  for  her 
own  "There  is  sunshine  in  my  soul ;" 
Maine's  tune  is  "Tramp,  tramp, 
tramp,  the  boys  are  marching;"  Ne- 
vada's State  song  is  "Will  there  be  any 
stars  in  my  crown?"  while  Ohio  sings 
her  hymn  to  the  tune  of  "Throw  out 
the  life-line,"  and  Pennsylvania  has 
set  her  hymn  to  "Trust  and  obey." 

But  space  does  not  permit  me  fur- 
ther to  characterize  this  delightful 
convention  feature.    Some  of  the  State 


A  Burmese  Choir-Leader. 


Christian   Endeavor  in  Song.  575 

"cries"  are  scarcely  as  dignified  as  the  hymns  alluded  to,  but 

they  all  have  their  part  in  promoting  the  gaycty  of 

^tatp    „       the   convention,   and   none  of   them   really  detract 

Cries.  '  -^ 

from  the  seriousness;  for  there  are  occasions  on  the 
train  and  in  the  hotels,  at  the  social  gatherings  and  at  the 
State  rallies,  when  it  is  just  as  appropriate  to  hear  the  Bay 
State  Endeavorers  cry  out  in  chorus, 

"Rubadub,  dub,  rubadub,  dub. 
We're  from  the  Hub,  we're  from  the  Hub! 
Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill, 
Tea  in  the  harbor  steeping  still ; 
Rubadub,  dub,  we're  from  the  Hub." 

as  to  hear  them  sing  the  most  solemn  choral. 

In  China,  Japan,  and  other  lands,  too.  Christian  En- 
deavor songs  enliven  the  conventions,  and  stir  the  hearts  of  a 
great  multitude  of  young  people,  and  lead  them  there,  as  in 
America,  not  only  to  sing,  but  to  "go"  and  "say"  and  "do"  as 
they  have  promised  in  their  song, 

"I  will  go  where  you  want  me  to  go,  dear  Lord, 
Over  mountain  or  plain  or  sea; 
I  will  say  what  you  want  me  to  say,  dear  Lord; 
I  will  be  what  you  want  me  to  be." 


CHAPTER  XLIV. 
BRIGHT  PLANS  TRIED  AND  PROVED. 

THE  SOCIETY  HAS  NEVER  DESPISED  METHOD  AND  THE 
MOST  CAREFUL  ORGANIZATION.  SOME  OF  ITS  MANY 
PLANS  FOR  THE  DIFFERENT  DEPARTMENTS  ARE  HERE- 
IN DESCRIBED. 

"  The  pathway  of  Christian  Endeavor  is  enclosed  on  either 
side  by  the  fence  of  righteousness.  Within  this  enclosure,  be- 
tween where  we  are  now  and  heaven,  is  the  sphere  of  our  meth- 
ods. Whatever  method  you  may  adopt,  don't  get  into  a  rut; 
and,  if  you  do  get  into  one,  don't  stick;  for  the  man  who  sticks 
in  a  rut  is  a  continual  jolt-maker." 

Rev.  William  N.  Yates. 

O  many  are  the  plans  for  brightening  and  improv- 
ing Christian  Endeavor  meetings,  committees, 
and  service  of  all  kinds  that  only  sug- 
gestive samples  can  be  given  here.  Every 
issue  of  The  Christian  Endeavor  World  and 
other  leading  Endeavor  papers,  a  score  of  little  booklets 
appropriate  to  each  committee  and  to  each  department  of 
Christian  work,  the  invaluable  yearly  issue  of  "The  Endeavor- 
er's  Daily  Cofnpanion,"  and  other  publications  contain  these 
plans,  which  come  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  are  first 
tried  and  proved  by  the  most  devoted  young  people  in  the 
ranks  of  Christian  Endeavor.  There  is  no  excuse  for  any  one 
who  can  read  his  own  mother  tongue,  for  falling  into  ruts  and 
remaining  in  them.  Any  worker  who  confesses,  "I  cannot 
make  my  Christian  Endeavor  society  succeed,"  is  simply  con- 
fessing, if  what  he  says  is  true,  that  the  young  people  who 
compose  it  have  less  brains  than  their  comrades,  or  possibly 

S76 


Bright  Plans  Tried  and  Proved.  577 

are  more  worldly  than  the  average  young  Christian,  and  are 
not  willing  to  give  prayer  and  thought  to  their  religious  life. 

But  we  are  persuaded  better  things  of  the  vast  majority  of 
Christian  Endeavorers,  and  this  persuasion  is  justified  by  the 
facts  which  come  from  every  section  of  the  world  where  the 
societies  are  found.  Indeed,  the  plans  given  in  the  brief  com-' 
pass  of  the  next  few  pages  are  enough  to  brighten  every 
society,  give  variety  to  its  work,  and  make  it  a  constant  help 
and  joy  to  its  church. 

Some  societies  complain  that  their  meetings  are  dull  and 
^^g  monotonous.     For    the    sake    of    improving    the 

Impromptu   Speaking-ability  of  the  members  Mr.  J.  P.  Suter,  of 
Cleveland,  tells  of  an  "impromptu  club." 

"Our  method  of  procedure  is  to  pass  two  blank  slips  of 
paper  to  each  member  of  the  club.  Upon  each  slip  the  mem- 
ber writes  some  common,  interesting  topic.  The  slips  are  col- 
lected and  placed  face  downward  upon  a  table.  Then  the 
important  moment  has  arrived.  The  first  member  chosen  to 
speak — it  matters  not  how  he  is  chosen — advances  to  the  table, 
and  selects  at  random  one  of  the  topics.  If  he  feels  that  he 
cannot  speak  upon  it,  he  is  permitted  to  take  another;  but  be- 
yond that  there  is  no  further  choice.  Upon  this  subject  he 
must  deliver  a  brief  impromptu  speech,  after  which  he  names 
his  successor,  and  the  process  is  repeated  until  all  have  spoken. 

"Then  the  critic,  who  in  our  club  is  elected  for  three 
months,  discusses  in  detail  the  various  speeches,  and  points  out 
whatever  defects  or  excellences  he  may  have  noticed,  whether, 
in  thought  or  grammar,  choice  of  words  or  delivery.  That,  as 
I  have  said,  is  the  germ  idea;  but  it  is  varied  in  many  ways. 
For  instance,  the  speaker  may,  before  he  begins  to  discuss  his 
own  subject,  allow  his  successor  to  choose  a  topic.  This  will 
give  the  latter  a  short  time  in  which  to  collect  his  thoughts,  al- 
though the  speech  will  still  be  impromptu. 

"Another  innovation,  which  was  tried  recently,  and  which 

proved  very  interesting,  was  to  provide  a  number  of  short 

poems  for  the  members  of  the  club  to  read  impromptu  after 
37 


578  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

the  regular  speeches.  It  is  surprising  how  difficult  it  is, 
upon  a  first  reading,  to  do  justice  to  a  good  poem." 

The  prayer-meetings,  being  so  important  a  feature  of 

the  Christian  Endeavor  work,   naturally  come  in  for  much 

Rules  attention.      The     Christian    Endeavor    World    re- 

Prayer=         ccntly  offered  three  prizes  of  five,  three,  and  two 

'Meeting        doUars  for  the  best  rules  for  prayer-meeting  parti- 

Participa=  .      ^ .     -^  °   ^ 

tion.  cipants.     Here  is  the  contribution  of  one  Christian 

Endeavorer,  which  did  not  receive  the  prize  of  the  judges  who 
made  the  award,  but  seems  to  be  fully  worthy  of  one,  and  well 
worth  quoting  in  this  chapter: 

"Be  among  the  first  to  speak.  Delay  only  adds  to  the 
nervous  shrinking  felt  by  many  timid  souls. 

''Be  willing  even  to  blunder  rather  than  make  no  attempt 
to  speak  for  the  Master. 

"An  ounce  of  your  own  experience  is  worth  a  ton  of  trite 
quotations. 

"Read  helps  at  home,  but  not  in  the  meeting. 

"Relate  some  story  or  incident  that  you  have  read,  or  illus- 
trate some  phase  of  the  topic. 

"A  thought  warm  with  life  never  fails  to  hit  the  mark. 
Avoid  set  phrases,  speak  naturally. 

"Long-windedness,  now  pray  take  heed, 
The  finest  discourse  smothers : 
So,  when  you  pray  or  talk  or  read. 
Remember  there  are  others. 

■         "Do  not  try  to  do  the  easiest  things,  but  do  the  hard 
thing. 

"Don't  be  a  weak-kneed  participant;  stand  boldly  upon 
your  feet." 

Endeavorers  are  always  desirous  of  new  ways  of  helping 
their  own  church,  since,  indeed,  this  is  the  great  object  of  their 
organization;  but  they  are  often  young  and  not  very  resource- 


Bright  Plans  Tried  and  Proved.  579 

ful ;  and  so  these  suggestions  of  work  which  has  actually  been 
Helping        Undertaken  by  many  a  society  are  here  given: 

"Our 

Own     ^^  "Divide  the  society  into  fourths,  each  fourth  to 

Church."  ^^j^g  some  part  in  one  of  the  church  prayer-meetings 
of  the  month. 

"Form  a  Christian  Endeavor  choir,  if  the  pastor  is  will- 
ing, to  act  as  a  nucleus  for  the  singing  of  the  church  prayer- 
meeting  and  the  Sunday-evening  service. 

"Establish  in  your  society  a  pastor's  aid  committee,  to  do 
whatever  the  pastor  wishes  done  in  connection  with  the 
church-work. 

"Perhaps  you  can  start  and  carry  on  a  church  paper. 
Perhaps  you  can  beautify  with  flowers  the  church  grounds. 
Perhaps  the  church  needs  new  cushions,  or  new  lamps,  or  new 
paint,  or  new  hymn-books. 

"Find  some  definite  work  to  do  for  the  church.  Do  it, 
and  then  find  something  else  to  do  for  it." 

An  American  Baptist  pastor,  who  has  been  preaching  in 
a  number  of  English  churches,  tells  of  the  beautiful  custom 
which  many  English  Endeavorers  constantly  keep  up,  as  the 
writer  can  testify,  of  presenting  to  the  preacher  as  he  enters 
the  pulpit  a  letter  of  welcome  to  the  church,  expressing  their 
prayerful  hope  that  God  will  bless  him  in  the  delivery  of  His 
word,  while  at  the  end  of  the  service  they  present  him  with  a 
bouquet,  or  at  least  a  boutonniere. 

Here  are  other  things  which  a  versatile  flower  committee 
can  do : 

"Send  flowers  to  the  new  members,  not  only  of  your  own 
society,  but  of  the  Juniors. 

"Send  flowers  to  the  new  members  received  into  the 
church. 

"Use  flowers  as  recognitions  of  good  work  in 

for  the         the  society — some  successful  social,  for  which  you 

Flower         wish  to  honor  the  social  committee,   for  instance. 

"Send  flowers  to  the  sick  of  the  church  and 

community,  and  especially  to  the  old  folks  on  their  birthdays. 


580         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

"Send  flowers  to  the  pastor's  study.  Put  them  in  the 
prayer-meeting  room  of  the  church.  Of  course  you  will  not 
forget  the  pulpit. 

"Make  floral  mottoes  appropriate  to  the  sermons." 

The  music  committee  of  the  Lake  Park  Church,  Minne- 
apolis, thus  sent  out  invitations  to  a  sociable  in  the  musical 
notation  seen  below: 


The    Music    Committee 
of  Lake   Park  Church 


A    collection     will      be     taKen. 

Here  are  some  further  hints  for  the  music  committee: 
A  Christian  Endeavor  choir  should  be  organized.     Some- 
times let  it  sit  in   front,   and  sometimes  let  its  members  re- 
enforce  the  singing  by  sitting  in  all  parts  of  the 

Suggestions   ^„^™ 
for  the  room. 

Music  Appoint  some  evening:  to  sins:  from  all  parts 

Committee,  ^^  o  a  f 

of  your  hymn-book,  taking  up  only  the  unfamiliar 
hymns.     Most  hymn-books  are  only  half  used. 

Introduce  other  instruments  than  the  organ,  if  the  En- 
deavorers  are  skilled  in  the  use  of  them. 

Plan  some  special  musical  feature  for  each  evening. 

The  society  might  as  well  assist  in  a  body  the  musical 
services  of  the  midweek  prayer-meeting  of  the  church,  and 
the  Sunday-evening  service. 


Bright  Plans  Tried  and  Proved.  581 

Many  societies  do  much  good  by  conducting  song  services 
in  hospitals  and  similar  places. 

How  to  raise  money  for  missions  is  often  a  serious  ques- 
tion. Here  is  a  plan  adopted  by  a  society  in  St.  Croix  Falls, 
Wis.  They  pledged  fifty  dollars  for  missions  at  the  beginning 
of  the  year,  making  it  necessary  to  raise  on  the  average  $4.17 
each  month.  So  this  chart  was  prepared  with  the  norm  a 
black  line  indicating  the  $4.17  to  be  given.  As  the  society 
gave  more  or  less  than  the  amount  each  month,  the  tell-tale 
indicator  on  this  card  showed  by  its  zigzag  lines  whether  they 
were  above  or  below  their  pledge.     At  the  end  of  the  year 


JunV 

PeOY   MaiCM   Apriu    Mnv 

55 -p 

ooLuecT. 

flu«<;sr   5cPT 

oris 

Ocr 

Dec. 

5 '7 

4 

17     '6 
■^        6 

9>  ?j 

?."       A 

•-i^     41 

'"    *'; 

6-3        £f 

4^' 

4 

5! 

4" 

4 

/ 

\ 

a 4 

,T* 

4 
/ 

»5 

/' 

% 

« - 

\ 

y 

/ 

\ 

v 

\ 

y 

\ 

/ 

* 

3 

t' 

■^? 

«•' 

r<o«(<t 


the  chart  looked  as  shown  above,  and  it  was  found  that  the 
amount  collected  was  $1.67  more  than  the  pledge,  and  that 
for  almost  every  month  the  society  had  kept  ahead  of  its 
promises.  The  chart  was  a  constant  stimulus  not  to  fall  below 
them. 

The  story  of  the  old  lady  who  marked  various  passages 
in  her  Bible  "T&P,"  "Tried  and  Proved,"  may  be  applied  to 
the  plans  below  given  for  dififerent  departments  of  Christian 
Endeavor  work.     They  have  not  only  been  tried  and  proved 


582  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

in  one  society,  but  all  of  them  in  hundreds,  and  many  of  them 
in  thousands,  of  societies  and  in  many  lands.  They  have  been 
printed  in  "The  Endeavorer's  Daily  Companion  "  in  different 
years,  but  have  never  before  been  thus  brought  together. 

FOR  MISSIONARY  COMMITTEES. 

"Go  to  books,  magazines,  and  the  leaflets  of  the  boards, 
and  use  freely  the  splendid  and  full  help  these  will  give  you. 

"Make  full  use  of  outline  maps,  home-made,  on  which 
you  will  paste  colored  stars  to  mark  the  locations  of  the  mis- 
sionaries about  whom  you  are  talking. 

"Avoid  having  selections  read  in  the  meetings.  It  is  far 
more  effective  to  speak  your  contributions,  using  your  own 
words,  however  stumblingly. 

"Do  not  try  to  crowd  too  much  into  the  meetings — an  out- 
line of  a  book,  for  instance,  into  ten  minutes.  Better  take  up 
fewer  points  at  a  time,  and  make  them  effectively. 

"Do  not  omit  the  touches  of  humor  and  brightness  that 
make  facts  remembered. 

"At  the  close  of  each  meeting  let  some  one  appointed  for 
the  purpose  give  a  summary  of  its  principal  points  that  are  to 
be  remembered,  and  perhaps  a  brisk  oral  examination  upon 
them." 

FOR  SUNDAY-SCHOOL  COMMITTEES. 

"Help  the  superintendent  by  being  ready  to  act  as  substi- 
tute teachers. 

"Help  him  to  prepare  for  the  Sunday-school  concerts,  by 
aiding  in  the  drilling  of  the  younger  ones. 

"Help  the  teachers  by  hunting  up  absent  scholars. 

"Help  them  by  organizing  groups  for  the  home  study  of 
the  lessons. 

"Help  the  scholars  by  visiting  the  sick. 

"Help  the  less  ready  scholars  by  going  to  their  houses  and 
aiding  them  to  study  the  lesson. 

"Help  the  school  by  getting  in  new  scholars. 

"Help  it  by  advertising  it  in  the  society  meetings,  telling 
what  a  good  school  it  is. 


Bright  Plans  Tried  and  Proved.  583 

"Help  the  chorister  by  organizing  a  Sunday-school  choir 
and  orchestra. 

"Help  the  librarian  by  interesting  the  Endeavorers  in  the 
best  library  books. 

"Help  the  society  by  drawing  in  new  members  from  the 
Sunday-school. 

"Help  the  prayer-meetings  by  bringing  in  points  from  the 
Sunday-school  lesson." 

FOR  PRESS  COMMITTEES. 

"Every  society  should  have  a  press  committee,  even 
though  there  is  no  town  or  county  paper,  because  there  are 
denominational  and  Christian  Endeavor  papers  that  will  wel- 
come the  news  of  the  good  things  done  by  the  society. 

"The  head  of  the  press  committee  should  be  the  best  writ- 
er in  the  society,  and  the  other  members  of  the  committee 
should  be  those  whom  he  will  be  training  to  take  his  place. 

"Study  the  best  models  of  expression,  and  do  not  be  satis- 
fied with  sending  out  a  single  paragraph  that  is  not  bright. 

"Get  regular  space,  if  you  can,  in  your  local  paper,  and 
fill  it  with  the  best  and  most  interesting  things  you  can  tell 
about  your  church  and  society. 

"Remember,  not  everything  that  is  interesting  to  you  is  in- 
tere:ting  to  others,  but  always,  when  you  write,  'put  yourself  in 
their  place.'  " 

FOR  CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR  DAY. 

"It  is  a  day — the  one  day  of  the  year — for  thought  of  our- 
selves as  a  society,  what  we  have  done,  and  how  we  may  do 
better. 

"It  is  a  day  for  giving — the  giving  of  our  hearts  to  Christ, 
if  they  are  not  given  to  Him;  the  giving  of  our  money  to  mis- 
sions, that  our  lives  may  go  where  our  bodies  cannot  go. 

"It  is  a  day  for  praise.  Let  us  thank  God,  who  alone  has 
brought  to  the  young  people  of  the  world  this  new  joy  in  serv- 
ice through  Christian  Endeavor. 

"It  is  a  day  for  resolutions,  for  larger  plans,  for  increased 
zeal,  for  earnest  prayer  that  Christ  will  give  His  blessings  and 
His  power." 


584  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 


HINTS  FOR  THE  PRAYER- MEETING  LEADER. 

"Plan  your  meeting  as  far  as  possible  in  advance. 

"Study  the  good  points  of  other  meetings. 

"Write  out  a  programme  for  your  meeting. 

"Include  in  your  plans  at  least  one  novel  feature. 

"Begin  on  time,  and  close  on  time. 

"Assign  work  in  connection  with  the  meeting  to  different 
members  in  advance. 

"Call  for  sentence  prayers  at  some  time  in  the  meeting. 

"Have  a  definite  thing  which  the  meeting  is  to  accom- 
plish. 

"Be  very  brief  in  your  opening  exercises. 

"Have  much  singing,  but  ask  the  members  not  to  call  for 
hymns  as  their  part  in  the  meeting." 

TEMPERANCE  WORK. 

"A  society  temperance  pledge  may  be  hung  upon  the 
wall,  with  the  signatures  of  all  the  members  upon  it. 

"Plan  for  the  temperance  meetings  long  in  advance,  and 
make  them  as  strong  as  possible. 

"Introduce  into  every  temperance  meeting  some  account 
of  recent  temperance  victories,  and  the  progress  of  the  move- 
ment. 

"Obtain  addresses  now  and  then  from  temperance  enthu- 
siasts. 

"Learn  what  are  the  temperance  laws  of  your  own  State 
land  community,  and  how  they  are  kept. 

"How  long  since  your  town  held  a  temperance  mass- 
meeting?     Plan  one  and  hold  it. 

"Why  should  not  the  temperance  committee  learn,  for  the 
information  of  voters,  the  position  as  to  temperance  of  the  can- 
didates before  the  people  for  election?" 

SOME  PLEASANT  SOCIALS. 

"A  reversed  social,  in  which  everything  is  done  back- 
ward. 


Bright  Plans  Tried  and  Proved.  585 

"A  social  'just  for  fun,'  to  which  each  member  contrib- 
utes the  most  comical  thing  he  can. 

"A  game  social,  to  which  each  Endeavorer  brings  some 
!  game. 

"A  botanical  social,  with  contests  in  naming  leaves,  flow- 
ers, etc.,  with  essays  on  plants,  and  games  connected  with 
them;  also  floral  costumes. 

"A  story  social,  each  member  representing  some  title  of 
a  story,  and  agreeing  to  tell  the  society  something  from  it,  or 
read  a  favorite  passage. 

"A  hero  social,  each  Endeavorer  representing  in  some 
way  his  favorite  hero,  which  is  to  be  guessed.  He  is  also 
ready  to  tell  about  him. 

"An  oratorical  social  for  an  oratorical  contest,  the  con- 
testants having  previously  made  entry,  the  judges  being  ap- 
pointed, and  a  laurel  wreath  awarded." 


CHAPTER  XLV. 
HOW  TO  LIFT  AN  ENDEAVOR  SOCIETY. 

THE  PRACTICAL  PLANS  DESCRIBED  IN  THE  LAST  CHAP- 
TER ANSWER  THE  QUESTION  OF  THIS  CHAPTER;  BUT 
SOME  ADDITIONAL  METHODS  ARE  HEREIN  GIVEN  FOR 
SOCIETIES  THAT  FOR  ANY  REASON  NEED  A  HELPING 
HAND. 

"  Christian  Endeavor  has  taught  young  Christians  that  there 
is  room  in  the  church  and  work  for  all,  that  service  is  a 
blessed  privilege,  and  that  international  union  is  noble  and 
helpful.  Christian  Endeavor  has  waked  up  many  sleepers  in 
the  church.  I  long  to  see  its  good  influence  extended  to 
every  church  and  community." 

Prof.    Y.    Chiba,   Kyoto,   Japan, 
Japanese  Dean  of  the  Doshisha  Girls'  School. 

HE  twenty-fifth  birthday  of  the  first  society  sug- 
gests that  some  societies  have  had  time  to  grow 
weary  in  well-doing,  and  makes  it  appropriate 
to  consider  how  a  lagging  society,  or  one  that 
has  fallen  into  the  ruts,  if  such  there  be,  may  be 
lifted  up  and  set  upon  the  smooth,  high  road  to  swift  success. 
Surely  in  these  days,  when  hints  and  helps  for  Christian  En- 
deavorers  are  coming  from  every  land,  there  should  be  no  lack 
of  useful  suggestions  from  societies  that  have  experienced 
every  vicissitude,  and  every  degree  of  success. 

As  a  rule,  the  societies  exhibit  a  remarkable  staying- 
power.  Of  the  first  fifty  societies  formed,  all  of  which  are 
now  in  the  neighborhood  of  a  quarter  of  a  century  old,  it  has 
recently  been  found  that  all  but  eight  are  alive  and  vigorous, 
and  that  almost  every  one  of  these  eight  has  been  disbanded 

586 


How  to  Lift  an  Endeavor  Society.         587 

because  of  denominational  pressure.  But  Endeavor  societies 
have  their  ups  and  downs,  like  all  other  human  organizations; 
and  one  advantage  of  a  universal  movement  is  that  the 
"downs"  may  be  changed  into  "ups"  by  learning  and  applying 
the  principles  and  methods  that  have  helped  to  lift  the  socie- 
ties in  many  countries  and  continents. 

Many  a  society  can  be  lifted  by  simply  applying  some  of 
the  fundamental  principles  of  the  organization,  by  insisting 
more  strenuously  on  the  covenant  pledge,  by  developing  the 
committee  work,  which  has  already  been  established,  by  add- 
ing new  committees,  or  by  making  a  feature  of  the  monthly 
written  report  to  the  society,  showing  what  each  committee 
has  tried  to  do  for  the  Master, 

A  few  societies  need  a  complete  and  thorough  reorganiza- 
tion, involving  a  lopping  off  of  the  "dead  wood"  which  has 
been  allowed  to  burden  the  healthy  tree.     This  can 

Complete  •,      i         i  •      ,  i       •  i  i     •  i 

Reorganiza=  casily  be  douc,  quictly  and  without  opprobrium,  by 
'*'"■  dropping,  according  to  the  provisions  of  the  usual 

constitution,  the  unfaithful  members  who  have  been  absent 
and  unexcused  from  three  consecutive  monthly  roll-call  meet- 
ings. This  may  reduce  the  numbers  of  the  society  materially, 
but  if  done  in  the  right  spirit,  with  prayer  and  care  and  kindly 
efforts  at  reclamation  of  the  delinquent  members,  it  is  almost 
always  followed  by  most  beneficial  results.  The  spiritual  tone 
of  the  society  is  raised ;  the  active  members  are  led  to  feel  that 
it  is  a  serious  and  honorable  thing  to  belong  to  the  organiza- 
tion, and  that  its  promised  duties  cannot  be  lightly  treated, 
while  the  unfaithful  ones  can  often  be  won  back  to  renewed 
loyalty  and  zeal. 

Many  a  society,  however,  needs  not  reorganization,  but 
only  to  have  some  definite  goals  set  before  it  to  inspire  new  life 
and  energy.  We  are  far  more  likely  to  hit  the  mark  if  we 
can  see  the  target  distinctly  and  on  all  sides.  Here  is  a  list 
of  some  definite  endeavors  which  a  pastor  in  Michigan  pro- 


588  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

posed  to  his  young  people  at  the  beginning  of  a  new  year  of 
service: 

"i.  Make  the  prayer-meeting  an  hour  of  intellectual 
'  improvement,  spiritual  fervor,  and  fraternal  greeting. 

"2.  Greater  personal  faithfulness  to  my  pledge. 
pfan"'  ^         "3-  Obtain  comrades  of  the  'Quiet  Hour.' 
for  the         "^_  Give  or  raise  more  money  for  missions. 
Year.  "5-  Each  one  win  one  other. 

"6.  Join  the  Tenth  Legion  (of  tithe-givers). 
"7.  Read  twelve  good  books. 
"8.  Commit  twelve  standard  hymns  to  memory. 
"9.  Have  a  prayer-list. 
"10.  Commit  365  Bible  promises. 
"11.  Make  24  visits  to  the  sick. 
"12.   Collect  52  missionary  facts. 
"13.  Record  52  missionary  thoughts. 
"14.  Let  the  past  go.     Forward,  march!" 

I  have  not  learned  how  many  members  of  this  society  suc- 
ceeded in  all  these  endeavors,  but  I  am  very  sure  that  the 
society  was  helped  by  the  very  efifort  and  by  the  definiteness 
of  the  tasks  set  before  it.  Such  a  list,  or  a  similar  one,  printed 
upon  a  card  might  be  presented  to  every  member  of  a  society; 
and,  if  each  one  strenuously  resolved,  and  recorded  in  black 
and  white,  by  making  a  cross  against  one  or  more  numbers,  his 
purpose  to  accomplish  some  or  all  of  these  tasks,  the  society 
could  not  help  feeling  the  pulsations  of  a  new  life. 

How  to  help  the  timid  and  the  bashful  to  take  part  in- 
telligently in  the  prayer-meeting  is  one  of  the  problems  in 
most  societies.  These  diffident  members  may  be  among  the 
most  faithful  Christians  in  the  whole  society,  but  they  are  not 
gifted  in  speech,  nor  is  it  necessary  that  they  should  be  to 
make  excellent  Endeavorers.  They  can,  however,  if  some  one 
leads  the  way,  contribute  something  of  real  value  to  each 
meeting. 

Here  is  one  plan  for  drawing  them  out,  which  is  called 


How  to  Lift  an  Endeavor  Society.         589 

"a  six-word  praise  service."  It  is  announced  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  meeting  that  each  one  is  requested  to  limit  himself 
to  six  words,  if  possible;  and  this  seems  so  little  that  even  the 
^  most  bashful  Endeavorer  can  say,  as  others  lead  the 

Words  ^^^'    '^   praise   God   for   His   goodness;"   "I    am 

Praise  thankful   for  daily  help;"  "I   bless  Him   for  His 

Word."  As  has  been  said,  this  will  set  every  one  to 
thinking  what  his  blessings  are,  and  it  is  so  easy  to  say  at  least 
six  words  that  every  one  can  take  part,  whereas,  if  the  meeting 
were  started  with  an  eloquent  address  or  an  exhaustive  paper, 
however  full  of  instructions  it  might  be,  the  younger  and  less 
educated  might  feel  quite  discouraged  and  overshadowed. 

An  "objection-box"is  an  attractive  feature  for  an  occasion- 
al Christian  Endeavor  meeting.  If  this  idea  is  carried  out,  the 
members  are  asked,  for  example,  to  bring  to  the  meeting  all 
the  objections  they  have  heard  raised  against  foreign  missions. 
Some  skilful  speaker  of  experience  should  be  prepared  to  an- 
swer these  objections,  and  to  send  the  members  away  ready  to 
meet  them  with  convincing  arguments  when  they  may  occur 
in  the  course  of  future  conversations.  At  another  time,  in  a 
similar  way,  objections  to  the  Christian  Endeavor  covenant 
pledge  might  be  considered,  or  to  the  consecration-meeting,  or 
to  the  practice  of  tithe-giving. 

Of  course  it  will  not  be  understood  that  I  am  suggesting 
that  there  should  be  a  "six-word  -praise  service,"  or  an  "objec- 
tion-box" meeting  every  week.  All  such  devices  should  be 
used  sparingly,  lest  they  wear  out  their  welcome. 

Missionary  meetings,  for  both  old  and  young,  are  often 
stupid  and  uninteresting  simply  because  little  pains  has  been 
„  :  ^  taken  in  their  preparation.     Here  is  a  plan  which 

Plans  The  RoU-Call  of  New  South  Wales  tells  of,  a  plan 

Missionary  which,  with  many  variations,  I  have  known  to  be 
Meetings,  tj-jej  succcssfully  in  many  societies.  "Plan  a  jour- 
ney to  three  or  four  mission  fields.     Let  each  mission  field 


590  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

be  represented  by  the  home  of  one  of  the  members.  After  a 
brief  stay  at  the  first  mission  field,  and  an  inspection  of  what- 
ever objects  illustrating  its  work  may  be  available,  the  com- 
pany passes  to  the  next  house  in  order,  and  so  on  until  the  tour 
has  been  completed.  A  brief  talk  about  the  missions  in  that 
particular  field  may  be  given  in  each  house.  The  decorations 
and  curios,  so  far  as  possible,  at  each  place  should  be  in  har- 
mony with  the  customs  of  the  field  represented." 

Here  is  the  way  in  which  a  society  in  Minnesota  was 
actually  revived.  Its  interest  was  apparently  waning;  and, 
though  its  members  were  not  conscious  of  any  social  coldness 
or  indifiference,  they  decided  that  they  could  well  take  more 
pains  to  make  the  young  people  who  came,  as  regular  or  occa- 
sional attendants,  feel  at  home  in  the  society.  But  I  will 
let  Miss  Marion  Brier  tell  in  her  own  words  what 
A  they  did: 

Minnesota 

'^'*"'  "After  a  little  discussion  some  one  suggested 

that  we  appoint  the  Christian  Endeavor  meetings 
fifteen  minutes  earlier  in  the  future,  and  spend  that  fifteen 
minutes  in  getting  acquainted  with  the  young  people  who 
were  not  among  our  members.  Another  suggested  that  we 
take  especial  pains  during  that  week  to  invite  others  to  come 
to  the  next  meeting.  A  third  suggested  that  a  committee  of 
four  members  be  appointed  to  meet  each  one  at  the  door,  to 
shake  hands  with  them,  and  to  learn  their  names  if  they  were 
strangers,  and  to  introduce  them  to  others. 

"These  suggestions  were  all  carried  out  in  the  next  meet- 
ing. The  members  were  present  promptly  fifteen  minutes 
l^efore  the  usual  time,  and  entered  enthusiastically  upon  the 
work  of  getting  in  touch  with  the  other  young  people  and  of 
interesting  them  in  the  society. 

"The  pleased  surprise  on  the  faces  of  the  young  people 
as  they  dropped  in,  and  found  themselves  in  the  midst  of  so 
kindly,  cordial  an  atmosphere,  was  a  study.  Every  one  was 
shaking  hands;  every  one  was  becoming  acquainted  with 
every  one  else.     By  the  close  of  the  fifteen  minutes  a  feeling 


How  to  Lift  an  Endeavor  Society.         591 

of  fellowship  had  been  established.     The  meeting  that  fol- 
lowed was  one  of  our  best. 

"We  continued  the  plan  for  some  weeks,  and  found  that 
we  gained  a  hold  upon  the  young  people  that  we  had  never 
had  before,  and  furthermore  that  our  own  interest  and  enthu- 
siasm were  greatly  quickened." 

Many  a  society  is  not  doing  its  best  work  because  it  is  too 
large.  If  it  were  a  half  or  a  quarter  its  present  size,  its  mem- 
bers would  feel  their  responsibility  as  they  do  not 
Best  Plan  now ;  and  each  one  would  receive  and  do  twice  the 
Society^*^^^  good.  One  of  the  largest  churches  in  the  world  is 
the  Grace  Baptist  Temple,  in  Philadelphia,  of 
which  the  eloquent  Dr.  Russell  H.  Conwell  is  the  pastor. 
This  church  has  a  membership  of  more  than  three  thousand, 
and  its  chief  audience-room  seats  nearly  four  thousand  people, 
and  is  often  crowded.  Evidently  one  Christian  Endeavor 
society  would  be  entirely  inadequate  for  such  a  church;  but 
the  pastor  has  solved  the  problem  by  establishing  no  less  than 
fourteen  societies,  limiting  the  membership  of  each  one  to 
sixty.  These  meet  in  different  rooms  of  the  great  church,  or 
on  different  nights  of  the  week,  and  are  composed,  some  of 
boys  and  girls,  some  of  young  men  and  women,  w^hile  one  or 
two  are  Senior  societies,  made  up  of  more  elderly  people. 
Each  one  seeks  to  do  its  utmost  for  the  church,  and  is  thor- 
oughly equipped  with  all  necessary  officers  and  committees. 

The  philanthropic  and  missionary  service  accomplished 
by  these  fourteen  societies  is  almost  incredible.  If  I  should 
attempt  to  record  it,  it  would  take  up  twice  the  space  of  this 
chapter,  but  still  Dr.  Conwell  is  not  satisfied.  "Should  we 
have  the  room,"  he  says,  "I  would  strongly  advocate  having 
twenty-eight  societies  instead  of  fourteen.  I  believe  every 
church,  no  matter  how  small,  should  have  more  than  one 
society,  thereby  arousing  competition  and  discussion,  and  caus- 
ing all  the  members  to  become  more  alive  to  their  full  respon- 


592  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

sibility.  Of  course  there  are  times  when  one  of  our  sections 
will  pass  through  some  special  trial  and  become  weak.  That 
is  the  one  I  give  my  special  care  and  attention  to  until  it  gets 
built  up  again.  But  one  section  keeps  another  alive,  and  so 
throughout  the  fourteen  societies  there  is  no  opportunity  for 
the  interest  ever  to  die  out." 


CHAPTER  XLVI. 

THE  PASTOR  AND  THE  CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR 

SOCIETY. 

THE  INTIMATE  RELATIONS  BETWEEN  THE  PASTOR  AND 
HIS  YOUNG  PEOPLE'S  SOCIETY,  AND  THE  OPPORTUNI- 
TIES THAT  IT  GIVES  HIM  ALONG  MANY  LINES,  ARE 
THE  BURDEN  OF  THE  FOLLOWING  PAGES. 

"  There  is   no  such   aid   to  the  pastor   in   his  arduous  and 
multiform  work,  especially  in  large  cities,  as  a  well-organized 
society  of  Christian   Endeavor.      It  may  fittingly  be  character- 
ized  among  human  agencies  as  his  cunning  and   strong  right 
hand."  Rev.  M.  Rhodes,  D.D., 

Pastoi-  of  St.  Mark's  Lutheran  Church,  St.  Louis. 

"  The  pastor  must  be  something  of  a  psychologist.  This  is 
fundamental.  To  develop  his  Endeavorers  he  must  know 
them ;  to  know  them  he  must  study  them.  To  him  they  must 
be  not  abstractly  a  Christian  Endeavor  society,  but  concretely, 
the  Christian  Endeavorers.  He  must  understand  their  gifts, 
their  accomplishments,  their  peculiarities." 

Dr.  A.  K.  de  Blois,   Chicago. 

O  intimate  and  affectionate  are  the  relations  of  the 
ideal  society  of  Christian  Endeavor  to  the  ideal 
pastor  that  a  brief  chapter  should  be  devoted  to 
this  important  phase  of  the  subject. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  first  society 
w^as  formed  by  a  pastor  for  the  benefit  of  his  own  church,  with 
no  thought  of  a  world-embracing  movement,  or,  indeed,  of 
an  extension  beyond  the  borders  of  his  own  church.  It  was 
emphatically  a  pastor's  society,  proposed  by  the  pastor,  second- 
ed by  the  pastor's  wife,  and  adopted  by  the  young  people  for 

^«  593 


594  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

the  sake  of  helping  them  both  in  many  lines  of  church  ac- 
tivity. 

The  Society  has  often  been  named  the  "Pastor's  Aid 
Society" ;  and,  if  it  ever  wants  another  name,  it  cannot  have 
a  better  one. 

In  many  ways  it  has  commended  itself  particularly  to 
active  pastors  in  all  countries  and  denominations.  Otherwise 
it  would  not  have  found  its  way  into  every  denomination  and 
every  section  of  the  world  as  it  has,  for  the  pastor  has  been  the 
chief  propagandist  of  Christian  Endeavor.  There  are  to-day 
more  than  eighteen  thousand  societies  in  churches  of  the  Pres- 
byterian form  of  government,  as  many  more  among  those  of 
a  Congregational  form,  including  the  Baptists,  Disciples  of 
Christ,  and  other  allied  denominations,  as  well  as  Congrega- 
tionalists;  nearly  as  many  more  among  the  different  divisions 
of  Methodism,  while  the  Lutheran  and  Episcopalian 
churches  all  have  their  strong  contingents.  This  very  fact 
shows  not  only  that  the  Society  is  in  the  widest  sense  inter- 
denominational, but  also  that  the  ministers  in  all  these  de- 
nominations have  found  in  it  something  peculiarly  suited  to 
the  needs  of  their  churches. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  movement,  when  it  was  feeling 
its  way,  so  to  speak,  into  denominational  affiliation,  it  was  com- 
mon for  the  ministers  of  different  churches  to  be  called  up  to 
the  platform  to  tell  why  they  liked  the  Christian  Endeavor 
Society. 

The  Baptist  minister  would  declare  that  it  was  suited  to 
the  genius  of  his  denomination  because  it  accepted 

Why 

the  the  Bible  as  it  stood,  and  made  it  the  rule  of  faith 

Liked     ^      ^^^  practice,  and  because  each  society  was  indepen- 
**!f .  ^.  dent,  and  ovv^ed  allegiance  only  to  its  own  church. 

Christian  '  ^  j 

Endeavor  The  Presbyterian  would  aver  that  the  "Society 

of  the  Covenant"  was  exactly  suited  to  the  "Church 

of  the  Covenant,"  and  that  Christian  Endeavor  had  taken  a 


The  Pastor  and  the  Society.  595 


Famous    Preachers   and   Christian   Endeavorers. 

Rev.  Smith  Baker,  D.  D.  Rev.  David  J.  Burrell,  D.  D     LL    D 

Rev.  William  Patterson,  D.  D. 

Tennis  S.  Hamlin,  D.  D.  Rev.  Charles  M.  Sheldon,  D    D 

Rev.  Russell  H.  Conwell,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.  Rev.  Wayland  Hoyt,  D.  D.,  LL   D 


596  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

leaf  out  of  the  history  of  Presbyterianism  and  applied  its 
teachings  to  the  young  people  of  the  world. 

The  Methodist  would  declare  that  the  Society  was 
entirely  in  accord  with  the  teachings  of  John  Wesley,  and  its 
fire  and  enthusiasm,  its  zeal  for  the  prayer-meeting,  and  its 
consecration-meeting,  which  was  but  an  adaptation  of  the 
class-meeting  of  the  Methodist  Church,  made  it  exactly  suited 
to  his  denomination. 

The  Episcopalian  would  assert  that  his  church  believed 
in  Christian  nurture,  in  training  young  disciples  for  the  king- 
dom of  God;  and,  this  being  a  cardinal  feature  of  Christian 
Endeavor,  he  could  but  accept  it  as  a  useful  adjunct  of  the 
church. 

Even  the  Quaker  would  announce  that  the  insistence  of 
the  Christian  Endeavor  Society  upon  personal  communion 
with  God,  and  upon  the  inner  light  received  in  the  Quiet 
Hour,  made  it  exactly  suited  to  his  denomination,  and  that, 
when  the  Endeavorer  prepared  for  the  prayer-meeting,  the 
Spirit  always  moved  him  to  speak  in  it. 

The  Disciple  of  Christ  would  say  with  equal  truth  that 
the  broad  fellowship  of  Christian  Endeavor,  which  discarded 
party  shibboleths,  and  insisted  on  Bible  doctrines  rather  than 
creeds,  and  personal  activities  rather  than  fine-spun  philos- 
ophy, had  led  his  churches  to  adopt  it  without  a  dissenting 
voice. 

Such  were  the  testimonies  of  pastors  in  the  early  days, 
and  such  are  their  testimonies  today  in  ever-increasing 
volume. 

Professor  Amos  R.  Wells  has  recently  asked  several  thou- 
sand pastors  some  leading  questions  concerning  their  En- 
deavorers  and  their  work,  and  the  replies  that  have  come  are 
almost  unanimous  as  to  the  loyalty  and  devotion  of  the  young 
people  and  the  undoubted  value  of  the  Society.  His  book  on 
"The  Young  People's  Pastor"   is  by  far  the  most-  valuable 


The  Pastor  and  the  Society.  597 

contribution  to  this  phase  of  the  subject.     Its  twelve  chapters 
treat  of  the  pastor  in  the  prayer-meeting,  the  busi- 
Young  ness-meetings,  the  committees,  the  socials,  the  union 

Pastor"        meetings,  etc.,  and  the  pastor  as  a  utilizer  and  as  a 
praiser,  as  well  as  "the  pastor  at  the  brakes."     The 
subject  is  worthy  of  the  volume  devoted  to  it. 

I  entirely  agree  with  Mr.  Wells  when  he  says: 
"I  sometimes  hear  it  said,  'If  the  Christian  Endeavor 
society  does  not  succeed,  it  is  the  fault  of  the  pastors.'  I  dis- 
avow any  such  sentiment.  I  have  seen  the  society  fail  through 
the  fault  of  frivolous  young  people  and  worldly  parents,  where 
the  pastor  was  bending  every  energy  to  make  it  succeed,  and 
I  have  seen  it  succeed  by  virtue  of  zealous  and  godly  young 
people  where  the  pastor  seemed  to  be  bending  every  energy 
to  make  it  fail.  No,  there  are  too  many  factors  in  the  pro- 
blem to  allow  us  to  lay  the  entire  blame  of  the  failure  on  the 
pastors,  or  give  them  the  entire  credit  for  success;  and  yet  the 
Christian  Endeavor  Society  has  won  its  triumph  chiefly 
through  the  zeal,  the  approval,  and  the  devoted  activity  of 
pastors." 

Some  features  of  the  Society  have  especially  commended 
it  to  ministers  in  active  service,  especially  those  with  young 
hearts,  who  have  felt  the  importance  of  devoting  some  portion 
of  their  time  and  energy,  at  least,  to  the  work  of  the  young. 
One  of  these  features  is  the  insistence  of  the  Society 
Features  on  loyalty  to  the  local  church.  There  is  no  other 
Commend  church  Organization  that  has  made  this  so  promi- 
Society  ^^^^  ^  feature  in  principle  and  practice.  Though 
to  Ministers.the  young  people  have  not  in  all  cases  come  up  to 
the  ideals  of  the  Society,  yet  these  ideals  have 
never  been  lowered.  Some  pastors,  to  be  sure,  have  dis- 
carded that  clause  of  the  pledge  which  relates  to  attendance 
upon  the  services  of  the  church,  either  because  they  have  felt 
that  it  was  not  necessary,  or  because  they  have  thought  the 


598  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

young  people  would  not  live  up  to  it;  but  a  multitude  more 
have  used  it  as  an  additional  leverage  in  securing  faithfulness 
and  zeal  on  the  part  of  their  young  people.  It  has  given  them 
something  to  appeal  to,  when  urging  constant  attendance 
and  loyalty  to  the  church  services.  "You  have  promised  it," 
they  can  say  to  them ;  and,  while  reasonable  excuses  are  al- 
ways admitted,  it  should  be  "the  rule  of  your  life"  to  do  what 
you  have  not  only  promised  in  your  church  covenant,  but  even 
more  specifically  in  your  Christian  Endeavor  pledge. 

The  society,  too,  gives  the  pastor  certain  rare  opportuni- 
ties to  reach  and  influence  his  young  people,  which  he  can  get 
in  no  other  way.  The  weekly  prayer-meeting,  for  instance, 
if  he  attends  it  regularly  and  sympathetically,  tells 
Pastor's  him,  as  his  young  people  participate,  how  they  are 
nUies!*"^  growing  in  grace.  The  monthly  consecration- 
meeting,  as  the  names  are  called  in  solemn  succes- 
sion and  the  responses  are  given,  affords  a  still  better  oppor- 
tunity to  note  the  progress  of  the  active  members. 

The  social  gatherings  give  him  the  best  of  all  opportuni- 
ties for  getting  acquainted  with  his  young  people,  who  are 
often  engaged  in  school  or  shop,  or  upon  the  farm,  so  that  it 
is  difficult  at  other  times  to  reach  them. 

The  lookout  committee  is  a  splendid  watch-tower  for 
the  pastor,  and  if  of  the  right  kind,  and  he  consults  it  fre- 
quently, he  can  find  out  much  concerning  the  spiritual  status 
of  all  his  young  people. 

The  associate  membership  gives  him  an  opportunity, 
which  every  pastor  must  prize,  to  press  home  the  truths  of 
religion  upon  those  who  are  not  yet  decided  Christians,  but 
who  have  put  themselves  in  the  way  of  religious  impressions 
and  instruction. 

The  various  committees,  just  as  many  or  few  as  he  desires, 
make  it  possible  for  him,  not  only  to  set  all  his  young  people 
at  work  in  practical  and  useful  lines,  but  to  get  a  thousand 


The  Pastor  and  the  Society,  599 

things  accomplished  for  the  church  which  the  church  may 
need — improvement  of  the  singing,  collection  of  missionary 
funds,  beautifying  of  the  church  grounds,  care  for  the  sick 
and  the  aged ;  in  fact,  there  is  no  possible  limit  to  the  ways  in 
which  an  ingenious  pastor  may  make  use  of  young  people 
when  thus  organized  for  service,  and  committed  to  loyal 
devotion  to  the  church  by  the  very  constitution  of  their  society. 

The  union  meetings  give  him  rare  opportunities  to  reach 
and  influence  the  young  people  of  other  communities. 

But  of  all  the  instrumentalities  of  the  Christian  Endeavor 
society  perhaps  none  is  so  helpful  to  the  pastor  as  the  execu- 
tive committee.  This  is  composed  of  himself,  of  the  officers 
of  the  society  and  the  chairmen  of  the  different  committees. 
Through  this  executive  committee  he  can  plan  the 
The  _  work  and  work  the  plans.  In  its  monthly  meetings 
Committee  he  can  know  just  what  is  being  done,  and  provide 
it^Heip  ^^^  other  forms  of  necessary  activity.  In  short,  it 
to  the  gives  him,  by  spending  a  single  hour,  or  two  hours 

Pastor.  /      ^      X  CO  7 

at  most,  once  a  month,  with  the  leaders  of  his  young 
people's  work,  the  command  of  the  whole  situation,  and 
enables  him,  largely  unseen,  to  keep  his  hand  upon  the  reins 
and  direct  the  society  in  every  department  of  its  life. 

Who  will  say  that  such  work  is  unworthy  of  a  Christian 
minister?  Once  in  a  while  I  find  a  pastor  that  practically 
says,  as  I  have  once  heard  a  minister  of  noble  physical  pro- 
portions remark:  "I  am  not  adapted  to  work  among  children 
and  youth.  I  am  too  big  to  go  to  the  young  people's  meeting. 
The  little  fish  don't  like  to  have  a  whale  swim  into  their 
school."  "Perhaps  it  would  have  been  appropriate  to  quote 
to  this  brother,"  as  has  before  been  remarked,*  "some  familiar 
words  about  becoming  as  a  little  child  before  one  can  enter 
the  kingdom  of  heaven."  What  is  the  ministry  for?  What 
is  our  preparatory  study  for?     What  is  the  object  of  the  morn- 

*  "  Training  the  Church  of  the  Future." 


6oo  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands, 

ing  sermon,  and  the  pastoral  call,  and  the  midweek  prayer- 
meeting,  but  to  establish  and  build  up  Christian  character? 
Shall  we  spend  all  our  time  digging  in  the  scoriae  of  a 
burnt-out  emotion  of  the  aged  or  the  middle-aged,  and  forget 
the  virgin  gold-mine  of  youthful  love  and  enthusiasm  which 
will  so  richly  reward  our  toil?" 

Thank  God  that  the  great  majority  of  the  ministers  of  all 
denominations  and  in  all  parts  of  the  world  have  said:  "We 
will  adapt  ourselves  to  this  work  as  best  we  can.  We  will 
gain  for  ourselves  the  young  heart  that  we  may  win  the 
young,  so  that  at  the  last,  when  our  account  is  demanded,  we 
may  say,  'Here  am  I,  Lord,  and  the  children  whom  thou  hast 
given  me.'  " 


CHAPTER  XLVII. 
CONVENTION  ORATORY. 

BRIEF  SPECIMENS  ARE  HERE  GIVEN  OF  THE  RICH  "  FEAST 
OF  REASON  AND  FLOW  OF  SOUL  "  WHICH  CHARACTER- 
IZE THE  GREAT  ENDEAVOR  CONVENTIONS  IN  MANY 
LANDS. 

"  Since  we  learn  more  through  the  sight  than  the  hearing, 
it  is  very  important  that  the  body  should  express  thought, 
as  well  as  the  voice.  When  a  speaker's  body  says,  '  I  believe 
every  word  I  am  saying,'  he  does  much  stronger  work  than 
when  the  body  is  unresponsive,  merelj^  standing  there,  a  piece 
of  cold  clay.  The  voice  is  like  a  many-toned  instrument. 
Not  all  people  appreciate  the  same  kind  of  music.  So  the 
voice  must  be  attuned  to  express  any  and  all  kinds  of  thought." 
Miss  Margaret  Koch,  at  the  Baltimore  Convention. 

HE  expression  of  religious  thought  in  the  best 
manner  has  not  been  neglected  by  Endeavorers. 
Miss  Margaret  Koch,  of  Maine,  formerly  a  pro- 
fessor of  expression  in  Colby  University,  and 
at  one  time  field  secretary  of  the  Maine  State 
Union,  has  done  much  at  many  conventions  to  show  the  con- 
nection between  thought  and  expression,  illustrated  by  the 
following  examples,  and  still  better  by  the  splendid  personal- 
ity of  the  speakers. 

It  would  be  strange  in  the  multitude  of  great  conven- 
tions held  in  many  lands,  where  the  first  orators  of  the  pulpit 
and  the  platform  have  been  heard,  if,  among  all  their  utter- 
ances there  was  not  much  that  was  worth  preserving.  In- 
deed, a  large  volume  of  eloquence  could  be  collected  from  the 
fifteen  or  twenty  volumes  which  I  have  at  my  hand,  contain- 

60 1 


6o2  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

ing  the  reports  of  the  chief  conventions  in  English-speaking 
lands.  To  make  a  selection  that  shall  fill  only  one  brief 
chapter  is  a  difficult  task,  and  yet  it  is  a  task  that  should  not 
be  omitted,  for  these  addresses  not  only  give  specimens  ofy 
convention  oratory,  but  in  a  most  forceful  way  drive  home 
some  of  the  great  principles  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  move- 
ment. So  I  will  accept  the  somewhat  ungracious  task  of 
choosing  from  some  thousands  of  pages  which  are  worth 
quoting  a  few  which  give  the  opinions  of  eminent  speakers  on 
certain  phases  of  Christian  Endeavor.  I  begin  with  a  quota- 
tion from  an  address  made  by  President  McKinley  when  he 
was  governor  of  Ohio,  and  the  Society  was  holding  its  annual 
meeting  in  Cleveland. 

CHARACTER  AND  HABIT. 

''It  is  a  mighty  cause  that  could  convene  in  any  city  of  any 
State  in  the  Union  the  splendid  assemblage  of  people  gather- 
ing in  so  many  places  this  morning  in  this  city  by  the  lake. 
No  cause  but  one  could  have  brought  together  these  noble, 
earnest  people;  and  that  is  the  cause  of  the  Master  and  the 
cause  of  man. 

"Your  coming  is  hailed  with  satisfaction.  Your  stay  will 
be  to  us  a  benediction.  Your  going  will  be  to  us  the  occa- 
sion of  sincere  regret.  You  are  not  strangers  to  us.  The 
young  men  and  women  of  Ohio  are  your  associates  in  the 
great  work  in  which  you  are  engaged.  The  whole  world 
knows  you,  for  it  has  felt  and  profited  by  your  influence  and 
example.  I  can  conceive  of  no  more  beautiful  employment 
than  that  of  Christian  Endeavor,  the  habitual  efifort  to  be 
better  and  to  do  better,  and  to  make  those  around  us  better. 
The  more  faithful  the  endeavor,  the  more  certain  the  realiza- 
tion; the  more  constant  the  effort,  the  more  sublime  the  end. 
We  cannot  try  to  be  good  without  doing  good.  Wrong-doing 
is  never  profitable.  Its  ultimate  reward  is  failure.  Right- 
doing  brings  the  rich  reward  of  a  peaceful  conscience  and  a 
cheerful  disposition  and  a  faithful  heart. 

"Mr.  President,  there  is  very  much  in  habit.     A  bad  habit 


Convention  Oratory. 


603' 


is  easy  to  make  and  hard  to  break.  This  is  just  as  true  of  a 
good  habit.  .  .  .  No  one  can  know  better  than  you,  who  have 
tried  it,  how  easy  it  is  to  get  into  the  habit  of  doing  good. 
Every  good  act  makes  the  next  one  easier;  every  duty  per- 
formed makes  the  next  which 
follows  lighter.  The  habit 
of  doing  good  expels  the 
temptation  to  do  wrong.  If 
the  world  around  you  knows 
that  you  are  fixed  in  your 
Christian  habits  and  settled 
in  them,  it  will  let  you  alone. 
It  will  not  present  you  with 
temptations;  it  will  not  pur- 
sue you  with  allurements  to 
tempt  you  from  the  paths  of 
righteousness.  If  I  have  ob- 
served  your  organization 
rightly  in  its  principles,  its 
business  is  to  form  in  the  lives 


A    German    Christian    Endeavor 
Cartoon. 

of  your  members  the  habit  of  being  good  and  of  doing  good." 


One  of  the  freshest  and  most  helpful  speakers  at  Christian 
Endeavor  conventions  is  the  Rev.  J.  E.  Pounds,  D.D.,  of  the 
Disciples  of  Christ,  who  spoke  at  Cincinnati,  O.,  in  1901  on 


THE  BEST  BOOKS. 

"Another  Endeavor  principle  that  should  be  applied  to 
reading  is  regularity.  One  book  a  month  is  better  than  twelve 
books  in  one  month  and  nothing  during  the  rest  of  the  year. 
It  is  only  once  in  a  lifetime,  and  then  when  God  has  special 
work,  as  he  had  for  Elijah,  that  one  can  eat  or  read  enough 
to  go  in  the  strength  of  it  forty  days  and  nights.  If  one 
should  take  five  minutes  with  the  poets  every  morning,  his 
mind  would  be  inspired  and  stimulated  for  the  work  of  the 
day.  It  would  be  like  going  to  the  organ  for  the  proper 
key-note  of  song.  It  is  better  to  get  the  key-note  for  a  day's 
thinking  and  living  from  Tennyson  or  Longfellow  than  from 


6o4  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

the  conversation  of  the  street-car  or  the  workshop.  You 
could  take  no  more  helpful  pledge  concerning  your  reading 
than  this:  'I  will  read  something  of  the  best  every  day  I 
live.' 

"The  selection  of  books  is  most  important.  Man  may 
be  the  architect  of  his  own  fortune,  but  the  best  of  architects 
cannot  build  without  materials.  There  cannot,  then,  be  too 
much  care  in  selecting  books,  since  they  will  be  built  into 
one's  very  character  and  destiny. 

"Every  young  man  is  a  young  Solomon,  not  in  wisdom, 
but  in  the  opportunity  to  choose  it.  When  he  stands  in  a 
library,  there  is  set  before  him  whatever  his  heart  could  wish. 
Strange  things,  however,  are  chosen.  If  I  should  say  that 
the  dust  is  gathering  on  Bacon  and  Emerson  and  even 
Macaulay,  the  pretty  librarian  might  think  I  was  bringing  a 
charge  against  her  housekeeping.  The  wise  man  of  Israel 
did  not  choose  riches,  but  our  modern  young  man  often  jour- 
neys to  'King  Solomon's  Mines'  in  search  of  the  true  gold. 
An  eminent  college  professor  says  sensational  novels  are  read 
in  the  spirit  of  the  gambler.  The  gambler  seeks  excitement 
and  profit.  It  is  passing  strange  that  any  one  should  expect 
to  find  either  in  a  book  that  sounds  like  'The  Shearing  of 
Billy  the  Butter,  or,  The  Villain  Uncovered,'  or  like  this: 
'The  Nine  Lives  of  Thomas  the  Rambler,  or.  Come  Home  to 
Die.'  How  many  mistake  mere  glitter  for  gold,  and  gather 
it,  as  the  explorers  carried  shiploads  of  mica  from  Virginia 
to  England!" 

One  of  the  silver-tongued  orators  heard  at  almost  every 
national  convention  in  America  for  many  years  was  the  late 
deeply  lamented  John  Henry  Barrows,  president  of  Oberlin 
College,  who  spoke  at  the  Boston  convention  of  1895  on 

CHRISTIANITY  A  GREAT  HISTORIC  FACT. 

"Christendom  was  never  so  great  a  fact  in  the  world  as 
it  is  to-day.  We  are  brought  face  to  face,  as  never  before, 
with  the  forces  and  claims  of  other  systems,  and,  as  the  most 
famous  of  all  the  students  of  comparative  theology  has  said, 


Convention   Oratory. 


605 


^e^<aVd 


'However  highly  we  prize  our  Christianity,  we  never  prize 
it  highly  enough  until  we  have  compared  it  with  the  religions 
of  the  rest  of  the  world.'  Furthermore,  such  comparison 
discloses  the  fact  that  Christianity  alone  presents  to-day  the 
aspects  of  a  world-wide  religion.  We  see  Judaism,  the  his- 
torical root  of  Christianity,  shrinking  into  a  national  cult  and 
numbering  less  than  ten  millions  of  our  race.  We  look  at 
the  religion  of  the  noble  Parsees,  the  heirs  of  the  venerable 

faith  of  Persia;  and  they  have 
dwindled,  as  we  know,  to  a  few 
score  thousands,  dwelling  most- 
ly in  Bombay;  and  from  the 
Malabar  Hill  they  send  out  no 
missionaries  to  convert  the 
world.  We  see  Confucianism, 
which  is  older  than  historic 
Christianity;  but  it  has  never 
reached  after  a  world-wide  su- 
premacy; it  is  simply  Mongo- 
lian ethics,  and  its  ^strongest 
ambition  has  apparently  been 
restricted  to  national  bounda- 
ries. It  has  influenced  with  its 
philosophy  the  military  literati 
of  Japan,  but  it  has  gone  little 
further;  and  instead  of  furnish- 
ing the  aspects  of  a  world-wide  system  of  belief  it  presents 
to-day  the  sorry  spectacle  of  the  most  populous  of  empires 
corrupted,  humiliated,  broken,  and  barely  escaping  the  shame 
of  seeing  the  horses  of  the  Mikado  stabled  in  the  pagodas  of 
Peking. 

"We  see  Hinduism,  the  most  seclusive  of  all  the  faiths, 
forbidden  to  cross  the  black  water,  pre-eminently  an  ethnic 
religion,  and  conspicuously  lacking  in  that  missionary  spirit 
which  takes  men  out  of  themselves,  and  sends  them  across 
oceans  and  deserts  to  tell  the  life-giving  truth  to  other  hearts. 
There  is  no  other  religion  than  our  own  that  could  have 
gathered  a  convention  like  this,  filled  with  such  hopes,  ani- 
mated by  such  purposes,  and  representing  such  varied  nation- 
alities." 


'A  German  Symbol  of  Christian 
Endeavor. 


6o6  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

Another  prime  favorite  at  Endeavor  conventions  in 
America  is  the  Rev.  Russell  H.  Conwell,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  of  the 
Grace  Baptist  Temple,  Philadelphia.  He  spoke  also  at  the 
Boston  convention  on 

SOME  CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR   PRINCIPLES. 

"What  the  v^orld  vv^ants  is  men,  men,  men.  And  this 
Christian  Endeavor  movement  is  building  them  up  on  every 
side.  It  is  building  them  up  first  by  creating  a  great  stand- 
ard of  honor.  Dr.  Clark  talked  about  the  pledge,  and  said 
that  it  ought  to  be  maintained  in  all  our  societies.  It  is  an 
element  of  manhood  to  sign  a  pledge.  We  had  a  man  in 
Philadelphia  that  said  to  a  brother  of  mine,  'I  don't  believe  in 
taking  pledges.'  So  he  went  courting  one  of  our  sisters,  and 
said,  'Will  you  marry  me,  Mary?'  She  said,  'I  don't  believe 
in  taking  any  pledges!'  Yet  that  man  signed  his  name  to  a 
pledge  for  $3,700,  and  owes  it  now,  and  probably  always  will 
owe  it. 

"I  believe  that  a  pledge  is  a  good  thing.  It  makes  soci- 
ety safer.  It  makes  mankind  purer;  it  lifts  the  standard  of 
Christ  higher  to  take  a  pledge.  It  makes  men  and  women. 
Hence  I  believe  in  the  Christian  Endeavor  pledge  to  speak 
every  week  in  the  meeting;  it  makes  men.  I  believe  in  the 
advice  of  studying  the  Holy  Bible  for  itself;  it  makes  men. 
I  believe  in  this  mighty  gathering  from  all  quarters  of  the 
world  because  it  makes  men  and  women.  Boston  will  be 
purer,  her  streets  more  peaceful;  and  the  whole  country  will 
come  nearer  to  the  standard  of  liberty.  The  influence  in 
every  town  and  city  and  State  of  this  mighty  gathering  is  for 
the  uplifting  of  a  Christian  manhood,  a  type  of  Christ  living 
and  moving  among  mtn.  Let  me  say  just  this :  we  want  to 
save  the  world,  the  other  side  of  the  earth.  How  will  it  be 
saved?  Not  by  putting  in  two  missionaries  where  there  is  a 
single  convert  and  fighting  over  our  sectarian  differences. 
The  heathen  will  be  saved  only  when  you  can  send  to  them 
better  examples  of  Christianity  than  they  find  among  the 
heathen.  When  you  can  send  to  them  a  perfect  manhood,  a 
manhood  that  they  can  see  living,  moving  among  them,  as 


Convention  Oratory.  607 

Christ  moved  among  men,  then  and  only  then  shall  the  whole 
world  be  saved." 

The  successor  of  the  Rev.  Joseph  Parker,  D.D.,  at  the 
City  Temple,  London,  as  all  know,  is  Rev.  R.  J.  Campbell. 
In  1903  he  came  to  America  to  address  the  convention  at 
Denver,  and  made  several  speeches.  We  quote  some  things 
that  he  said  on 

SPIRITUAL  INCENTIVES. 

"Why  should  we  prate  of  the  comity  of  our  two  coun- 
tries? We  think  the  two  countries  can  do  the  biggest  things 
on  earth,  but  we  may  be  mistaken.  Some  spiritual  incentives 
have  come  from  other  races.  What  about  the  Moravians? 
What  of  the  small  Swiss  people  who  sent  their  contingent 
over  here,  those  heroes  who  fought  against  odds  in  the  day  of 
the  Reformation,  and  sent  something  to  England  which  Eng- 
land sent  to  you? 

"To-day  I  heard  a  voice  from  a  delegate  from  Japan 
raising  his  testimony  in  this  vast  host  of  Christian  Endeavor- 
ers  and  his  joint  allegiance  with  us  to  the  Master,  Jesus 
Christ.  We  are  realizing  it  slowly  as  the  Kingdom  comes. 
It  is  not  one  or  a  few  nations,  but  all  the  nations,  that  must 
bring  their  trophies  into  it.  We  are  not  to  rest  content  until 
the  earth  is  filled  with  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  as  the 
waters  cover  the  deep. 

"You  young  men  are  called  to  big  things.  There  never 
were  bigger  problems  before  men  than  confront  a  man  in  our 
English-speaking  world  to-day.  You  have  demons  to  fight. 
I  heard  some  of  them  named  from  this  platform.  The  de- 
mon of  lust  is  not  free  from  your  doors.  You  have  a  battle 
with  the  drink  problem,  as  we  have  at  home.  Also  the  battle 
for  the  downtrodden  employees  who  for  a  bare  wage  hold  on 
to  the  far-ofi  edge  of  subsistence. 

"Some  of  us  don't  like  to  think  of  those  dark  corners  in 
our  great  cities.  It  is  our  duty  to  think  of  them,  and  go  out, 
and  do  as  the  Master  would  do.  You  have  to  break  the  blank 
wall  of  indifiference  that  separates  so  many  of  our  fellows 
from  the  church  of  Christ.     We  have  to  bring  them  out. 


6o8  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

though  it  costs  something  to  do  it,  and  you  know  there  is  noth- 
ing worth  having  if  it  does  not  cost  something." 

The  Rev.  Floyd  W.  Tomkins,  S.  T.  D.,  of  Holy  Trinity 
Church,  Philadelphia,  is  frequently  heard  at  Endeavor  con- 
ventions, and  always  with  delight,  especially  in  "Quiet-Hour" 
services  and  the  like.  From  an  address  at  the  World's  Con- 
vention in  London  in  1900  I  quote  these  paragraphs  on 

PENTECOSTAL  POWER. 

"I  cannot  be  a  son  of  God  if  I  am  indifferent  to  the 
common  welfare  of  men.  Intemperance,  impurity,  gam- 
bling, must  be  my  obvious  enemies,  against  whom  I  not  only 
exercise  eternal  vigilance,  but  wage  an  aggressive  warfare. 
Injustice  of  man  against  man,  oppression  in  any  and  every 
form,  these  must  be  the  forms  of  chaos  upon  which,  through 
those  who  are  filled  with  the  Spirit,  that  divine  power  will 
work  to  bring  order  and  beauty.  One  cannot  emphasize 
sufficiently  the  importance  of  the  Christian's  recognition  of 
his  duty  in  all  these  matters  of  common  welfare. 

"I  must  bring  the  power  to  bear  upon  life  itself.  It  is 
not  some  far-off  divine  event  towards  which  we  move,  but  a 
kingdom  here  and  noiv.  Says  Godet:  Tt  is  not  in  heaven 
that  we  find  God,  but  it  is  in  God  that  we  find  heaven.'  Life 
is  not  probation  only,  nor  education  only;  but  rather  it  is  the 
building  of  a  glorious  temple  wherein  shall  dwell  righteous- 
ness. When  I  can  teach  men  that  it  is  a  glorious  thing  to 
live;  when  I  can  make  men  know  that  eternal  life  begins 
here,  that  death  is  conquered  for  the  Christian,  and  the  pres- 
ent and  future  are  one  continued  'abiding  in  Christ,'  that  joy 
and  strength  and  knowledge  of  God  come  just  as  rapidly  as 
we  can  bear  them,  that  all  beauty  and  power  are  of  God,  then 
I  am  applying  the  power  of  the  Spirit  to  life." 

In  the  humble  opinion  of  the  writer  the  Rev.  J.  H. 
Jowett,  D.D.,  of  Carr's  Lane  Chapel,  Birmingham,  is  the 
greatest  preacher  in  England  since  Dr.  Alexander  McLaren 
retired  from  his  Manchester  pulpit.     Here  is  a  brief  extract 


Convention  Oratory.  609 

from  his  address  at  the  British  National  Convention  in  Glas- 
gow on 

CHRISTIAN   ENDEAVOR  AND  BIBLE-STUDY. 

"Where  does  'endeavor'  begin  in  the  Epistle  to  the^ 
Ephesians?  At  chapter  five.  Where  does  it  begin  in  the 
Epistle  to  the  Galatians?  At  chapter  four.  Where  in  the 
Epistle  to  the  Colossians?  At  chapter  five.  What  has  the 
apostle  been  doing  in  all  the  previous  chapters?  Dwelling 
upon  the  great  mysteries,  taking  his  readers  away  back  to 
the  fundamental  truths,  rousing  them,  stirring  them,  feeding 
them,  that,  when  he  comes  to  the  end  of  his  epistle  he  may 
then  say,  'Now,  with  your  roused  appetite,  with  your  big  hun- 
ger for  righteousness,  and  your  big  hunger  for  Gcd,  now  "en- 
deavor" this  way,  that  way,  and  with  this  and  that  endeavor.' 

"Let  your  endeavor  grow  out  of  great  and  studious  con- 
templation of  the  great  mysteries  in  Christ.  .  .  .  If  we 
lose  our  sense  of  the  great  mysteries  of  Christianity,  we  shall 
very  soon  lose  our  reverence.  And,  once  we  lose  our  rever- 
ence, we  shall  very  soon  lose  our  appetite  for  Christian  work; 
and,  once  we  lose  our  appetite  for  that,  we  shall  soon  lose  the 
spirit  of  endeavor." 

Rt.  Rev.  Samuel  Fallows,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  bishop  of  the 
Reformed  Episcopal  Church,  noted  throughout  America  as 
a  leader  in  many  good  enterprises,  and  long  one  of  the  trus- 
tees of  the  United  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor,  spoke  as 
follows  at  the  Nashville  convention  in  1898,  on 

THE  INTELLECTUAL  CONDITIONS  FOR  THE  ENDUEMENT  OF  THI  [ 

SPIRIT. 

"Love  without  knowledge  may  become  fearfully  irregu- 
lar and  fanatical. 

"The  command  of  Christ  was  not  merely  to  preach,  to 
announce  or  declare  the  truth,  but  to  teach.  His  promise  is 
to  be  with  them  that  thus  instruct  and  guide.  In  the  teach- 
ing there  must  be  the  impartation  of  knowledge,  with  un- 
39 


6io  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands, 

wearied  patience  and  perseverance,  with  tact  and   discrim- 
ination, with  specific  individual  application. 

"The  enduement  of  the  Spirit,  whether  considered  as  the 
original  birthright  of  the  Christian  believer  at  his  conver- 
sion, or  the  first  conscious  acceptance  of  the  Saviour,  or  as  a 
special  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  is  not  for  'mere  ecstatic 
emotion,'  but  for  ethical  results. 

,  "The  Christian's  purpose  is  to  do  God's  will,  but,  to  do 
it,  he  must  know  it.  The  Kingdom  cannot  come  until  His 
will  be  done.  But  the  Kingdom  includes  every  interest  of 
man  in  all  his  multiplied  relations  to  nature,  to  his  fellow 
men  and  to  God.  Man  must  know  to  do,  and  he  must  do  to 
know." 

There  is  no  greater  favorite  at  Christian  Endeavor  con- 
ventions on  both  sides  of  the  sea  than  the  Scotch-Irish- 
Canadian-American  minister  the  Rev.  William  Patterson, 
pastor  of  Bethany  Church,  Philadelphia,  an  extract  from  one 
of  whose  many  convention  addresses  is  here  given. 

SPIRITUAL  LIFE,  ITS  MANIFESTATIONS  AND  DEVELOPMENT. 

"There  is  no  contrast  greater  than  that  between  life  and 
death,  whether  it  be  in  the  physical  world  or  the  spiritual. 
But  there  are  degrees  of  life;  namely,  life  and  life  more  abun- 
dant. A  man  may  have  physical  life,  but  at  the  same  time 
possess  so  little  of  it  that  he  is  unconscious  of  his  own  exist- 
ence; and  his  friends  may  be  in  doubt  as  to  whether  he  is 
alive  or  dead.  In  like  manner  a  man  may  have  so  little  spir- 
itual life  that  he  will  be  without  assurance  of  salvation,  and 
'his  friends  will  be  in  doubt  concerning  his  spiritual  condi- 
tion. Again,  there  are  those  who  are  conscious  of  their  ex- 
istence, but  who  are  so  weak  that  they  have  to  be  fed  and 
cared  for  by  others.  And  in  the  church  there  are  many  who 
have  to  be  fed  on  the  milk  of  the  word  and  who  have  to  be 
taught  and  ministered  unto.  We  come  now  to  a  higher  stage 
in  physical  life,  where  a  man  has  sufiicient  life  to  care  for 
himself,  but  has  none  to  spare;  hence  he  is  unable  to  work  or 
to  help  others;  and  in  the  church  of  Christ  we  have  a  great 


Convention  Oratory.  6ii 

multitude  who  have  enough  spiritual  life  for  themselves,  but 
have  none  to  spare;  or,  to  change  the  figure,  they  are  like 
wells  which  are  full,  but  have  no  overflow,  and  the  world  re- 
ceives very  little  benefit  from  this  class, 

"We  now  come  to  the  highest  degree  of  life,  where  we 
find  it  to  be  abundant;  and  in  the  physical  world  all  great 
enterprises  originate  and  are  pushed  forward  by  those  who 
have  an  abundance  of  physical  and  mental  life.  It  is  also 
true  in  the  Christian  world  that  all  the  great  movements  for 
the  helping  of  humanity  and  the  spread  of  the  gospel  have 
been  begun  and  are  being  carried  on  by  those  who  have  an 
abundance  of  spiritual  life.  Work  is  a  toil  to  the  man  who 
has  but  little  life,  whilst  it  is  a  pleasure  to  the  man  who  has  an 
abundance  of  life.  This  is  true  whether  you  take  it  phys- 
ically or  spiritually.  All  people  cannot  have  an  abundance 
of  physical  life,  but  all  Christians  can  have  an  abundance  of 
spiritual  life,  and  it  is  their  own  fault  if  they  do  not,  for 
Jesus  said,  'I  am  come  that  they  might  have  life,  and  that 
they  might  have  it  abundantly.'  " 

Brilliant  on  the  platform  and  in  the  pulpit,  fascinating 
In  private  intercourse,  gifted  in  many  ways  beyond  almost  any 
American  preacher,  was  the  Rev.  Maltbie  D.  Babcock,  D.D., 
of  the  Brick  Presbyterian  Church,  New  York.  He,  too,  was 
often  heard  at  the  conventions  of  the  Society,  of  which  he  was 
an  honored  trustee.  His  tragic  death  adds  a  new  pathos  and 
power  to  his  words  on 

LIVING  AND  DYING  FOR  CHRIST. 

"If  I  work  for  the  glory  of  God,  I  must  do  everything 
well,  whether  the  work  be  personally  agreeable  or  not.  If  I 
live  for  pleasure,  why  be  conscientious  in  that  which  is  not 
pleasant  to  me;  if  for  money,  in  what  does  not  pay  me;  if  for 
ambition,  in  that  which  is  not  popular  nor  profitable?  But 
if  for  the  glory  of  God,  whatever  my  hand  finds  to  do  shall 
be  done  as  a  word  of  explanation  of  the  divine  nature. 

"But  what  if  a  man  succeeds  in  his  work?  How  shall 
he  be  kept  from  pride?     The  danger  of  most  men  is  their 


6i2  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

conceit.  But  how  can  a  successful  man  be  kept  from  the 
foolishness  of  Nebuchadnezzar  as  he  paced  his  walls  and 
said,  'Is  not  this  great  Babylon  that  I  have  built?'  Let  him 
live  for  God's  glory.  Then  he  welcome:  success,  blesses  God 
for  usefulness  and  accomplishment,  acknowledges  that  he  is 
but  a  tool  in  the  Master's  hands,  a  servant  in  the  Master's 
house;  cries,  'Not  unto  us,  not  unto  us,  but  unto  Thy  name 
give  glory!'  My  brother,  if  you  succeed,  yoj.  have  an  oppor- 
tunity of  revealing  the  God  who  can  keep  a  man  sensible  in 
success,  and  level-headed  on  high  places.' 

"And  when  at  last  we  face  the  inevitable,  when  death 
brings  us  to  things  as  they  are,  then  the  question  comes  with 
a  power  never  before  realized,  What  have  I  been  living  for? 
If  for  money  or  for  fame,  if  for  power  or  pleasure,  how  death 
pricks  the  bubble!  What  earthly  motive  can  survive  this 
test?  But,  if  I  have  been  living  for  the  glory  of  God,  I  can 
die  for  His  glory,  and  show  how  He  who  helped  a  Christian 
to  live  can  help  a  Christian  to  die.  It  is  but  another  oppor- 
tunity, another  phase  of  life,  in  which  to  reveal  God;  as  a 
recent  writer  said  of  a  noble  woman's  death,  'she  gave  to  death 
the  same  large  and  generous  welcome  which  she  accorded  to 
all  the  other  great  experiences  of  her  life.'  And,  death  past, 
the  last  earthly  test  endured,  I  begin  to  live  bevond  as  I  have 
tried  to  live  here,  still  for  the  glory  of  God.  I  will  try  to.  do 
His  will  cheerfully  and  exactly,  having  been  faithful  in  a  lit- 
tle, be  glad  to  be  trusted  with  more,  finding  that  the  reward 
of  one  duty  was  the  power  to  do  another  and  a  higher.  I 
will  try  in  any  way  He  says,  or  in  any  place  He  sends  me,  still 
to  reveal  my  God,  knowing  Him  and  showing  Him.  What 
a  magnificent  outlook — to  glorify  God  and  enjoy  Him  for- 
ever! 

"Beloved  Christians,  let  us  feel  the  power  of  this  endless 
life-motive  now.  Let  it  strengthen  us  for  victory  in  tempta- 
tion. Let  it  be  wisdom  to  us  in  moments  of  hard  decisions. 
Let  it  call  us  to  our  best  work,  steady  us  in  success,  exalt  us 
in  failure,  give  triumph  in  death,  and  sway  us  for  eternity. 
The  scope  and  swing  of  life  depend  upon  the  length  of  its 
radius.  If  earth  is  the  pivot  of  our  thought  and  activity, 
how  little  a  sphere  bounds  us!     But,  if  the  far-distant  sun  is 


Convention  Oratory.  613 

the  centre,  then  through  what  mighty  spaces  is  our  life  car- 
ried! 

"Living  for  self,  how  limited,  how  little,  how  unworthy 
my  life!  Living  for  God,  living  to  make  Him  glorious,  how 
surely  must  infinity  be  the  scope  of  my  being  and  eternity  its 
endless  sweep!  Beloved,  'whether,  therefore,  ye  eat  or  drink, 
or  whatever  ye  do,  do  all  to  the  glory  of  God.'  " 


CHAPTER  XLVIII. 
THAT  THEY  ALL  MAY  BE  ONE. 

THE  LARGEST  PROVIDENTIAL  PURPOSE  OF  CHRISTIAN 
ENDEAVOR  TO  UNITE  THE  CHRISTIAN  YOUNG  PEOPLE 
OF  THE  DIFFERENT  NATIONS  AND  THE  DIFFERENT 
DENOMINATIONS  IN  FULFILMENT  OF  OUR  LORD'S  LAST 
PRAYER  IS  SET  FORTH  IN  THIS  FINAL  CHAPTER. 

"  The  Society  has  done  much  to  extend  and  strengthen  the 
spirit  of  Christian  unity  and  brotherhood,  and  its  remarkable 
growth  attests  its  great  helpfulness  to  those  to  whom  it  espe- 
cially appeals  —  young  men  and  young  women." 

Hon.   George  B.    Cortelyou, 
Postmaster-General  of  the   United  States. 
"  This  society  is  among  the  most  potent  forces  in  hastening 
the  time  when  shall  be   fulfilled   the  prayer  of  the  Master  in 
the  upper  chamber  '  that  they  all  may  be  one !  '  " 

Hon.  David  J.  B reiver. 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the   United  States. 

iAM  writing  this  last  chapter  of  the  story  of  the 
first  twenty-five  years  of  Christian  Endeavor 
within  a  few  hours  of  the  exact  anniversary  date. 
Twenty-five  years  ago,  almost  to  an  hour,  the  in- 
conspicuous little  company  of  young  people  came 
together  in  their  pastor's  study  to  form  the  first  Christian 
Endeavor  society.  We  have  but  just  entered  upon  our  second 
quarter-century,  and  can  look  back  upon  the  first  with  an  open 
vision  and  a  teachable  heart.  Looking  back  upon  all  those 
years,  studying,  as  I  have  been  doing,  the  reports  that  nave 
come  to  me  from  every  part  of  the  world,  reading  of  the 
advance  of  the  Society  in  every  continent,  noting  the  way  in 
which  it  became  gradually  interstate,  intersectional,  inter- 
denominational, international,  interracial,  I  cannot  but  feel 

614 


That  All  May  Be  One.  615 

that  one  of  the  great  objects  of  divine  providence  in  this  move- 
ment, if  not  the  greatest  object  of  all,  was  the  advancement  of 
Christian  unity,  the  promotion  of  brotherhood,  and  the  ful- 
filment of  our  Lord's  last  prayer. 

No  human  foresight  could  have  anticipated  these  results. 
No  human  wisdom  could  have  planned  them.     No  amount  of 

organization,      merely     man-made,      could     have 
Fellowship    brought  them  about. 
Q^^  Does  it  not  behoove  those  who  stand  in  the  way 

of,  or  oppose,  such  a  fellowship  to  aslc  themselves 
whether  they  may  not  be  "fighting  against  God"  in  this  mat- 
ter? It  matters  little  to  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society  as 
such.  It  is  strong  and  growing  stronger,  and  can  exist  even 
with  much  sectarian  opposition.  But  does  it  not  afford  an 
opportunity  which  the  Christian  world  cannot  afford  to 
neglect  to  unite  the  younger  forces  of  the  church  in  a  solid 
phalanx  against  the  united  forces  of  unrighteousness? 

Here  at  last  in  the  history  of  Christianity  is  an  organiza- 
tion that  is  confined  to  no  one  sect,  no  one  nation,  no  one 
language.  This  is  true  also  of  the  Sunday-school  and  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  but  it  is  more  true  of  the 
Christian  Endeavor  Society  that  this  feature  of  fellowship  is 
brought  to  the  front,  is  one  of  the  fundamental  articles  of  its 
unwritten  creed,  is  emphasized  by  such  conventions  as  have 
never  been  held  before,  and  is  made  evident  by  bringing  to- 
gether in  one  place  and  at  one  time,  as  they  have  never  been 
brought  together  before,  the  representatives  of  every  nation 
and  tribe  and  kindred  and  tongue.  Even  in  the  brief  span  of 
twenty-five  years  it  has  made  more  persistent  and  effective 

efforts  along  this  line  than  any  other  organization. 
Sy^ony^mous  The  vcry  name  "Endeavor"  has  become  synony- 
with  "Fer=    jnous  with  "fellowship." 

lowship.  ,       ^ 

The  fact  that  it  knows  no  limit  of  "race,  color, 
or  previous  condition  of  servitude,"  has  enabled  it  to  fulfil 


6i6  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

Peter's  vision,  in  which  he  saw  all  manner  of  creatures  in  a 
great  sheet  let  down  from  heaven,  and  was  taught  to  call  noth- 
ing "common  or  unclean." 

Says  Miss  Christina  K.  Cameron,  a  well-known  En- 
deavorer  of  St.  Louis,  who  has  just  returned  from  a  missionary 
journey  around  the  world: 

"I  have  had  the  privilege  of  coming  into  contact  with 
Christian  Endeavor  all  the  way  around  the  circle,  not  only  in 
China  and  Japan  and  Korea;  for  I  returned  via  Hong  Kong, 
Singapore,  Penang,  Colombo,  Aden,  Suez,  Port  Said,  Egypt, 
Gibraltar,  England,  Wales,  Scotland,  and  Canada.  I  have 
attended  some  wonderful  Christian  Endeavor  meetings  at  all 
hours  from  six  A.  M.  to  nine  P.  M.  There  is  something 
about  the  Society  which  seems  to  adapt  it  to  all  climes,  classes, 
and  conditions.  I  have  seen  flourishing  societies  at  lonely  out- 
stations  where  no  foreign  missionary  resided.  It  has  broken 
down  barriers  that  seemed  almost  insurmountable." 

Is  it  not  time  for  the  Christian  public  to  urge  with 
prayerful  insistency  that  in  foreign  lands,  at  least,  denomina- 
tional differences  shall  not  be  perpetuated?  If  there  is  a 
better  way  than  through  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society  to 
bring  together  the  young  converts  of  mission  lands,  we  will 
all  gladly  welcome  it;  but,  since  the  Society  has  already  ob- 
tained a  foothold  in  every  country,  and  has  been  adopted  by 
many  in  every  mission;  since  its  principles  are  as  flexible  and 
adaptable  as  any  possibly  can  be;  since  its  name  stands  for  the 
largest  possible  fellowship  and  liberty  in  Christ,  and  there  is 
no  possible  sectarian  bias  to  it;  since  it  has  already  proved  its 
worth  in  scores  of  mission  fields,  and  is  well  organized  for 
aggressive  work  in  almost  every  section  of  the  world;  above 
all,  since  Providence  so  manifestly  designed  it  to  accomplish 
this  unifying  task,  who  will  withhold  his  co-operation? 

Says  Dr.  William  S.  Ament,  one  of  the  most  eminent 
missionaries  in  China,  "The  Christian  Endeavor  Society,  with 


That  All  May  Be  One.  617 

its    broad    platform    and    world-embracing    ideas,    calls    all 

A  Christian  forces  to  unite  with  an  undivided  front. 

Aiiission=       National  and  theological  boundaries  can  afford  to 

lAppeai.         be  ignored  in  the  struggle  for  the  conquest  of  China 

*  for  Christ.  Co-operation  is  the  watchword  of  the  future. 
We  must  stand  shoulder  to  shoulder,  and  prove  to  all  the  real 
oneness  of  our  faith." 

In  the  last  annual  report  of  the  honorary  general  secretary 
of  the  India  Christian  Endeavor  Union,  the  Rev.  L.  B.  Cham- 
berlain, he  writes: 

"It  has  been  a  pleasure  and  privilege  in  this  quarter- 
centenary  year  to  obtain  a  testimonial  to  Christian  Endeavor 
signed  by  forty  representative  leading  workers  in  the  mission 
fields  of  India.  Twenty  missionaries  and  nine  denominations 
are  represented  by  the  signatures.  Seldom  has  such  a  body  of 
missionaries  participated  in  any  action  in  India.  This  same 
report  quotes  the  experience  of  another  missionary,  who  says, 
after  a  brief  acquaintance  with  Christian  Endeavor: 

"My  connection  with  Christian  Endeavor  has  already 
given  me  a  knowledge  of,  and  interest  in,  other  work  in  the 
country  that  a  previous  ten  years  of  work  in  the  missionary 
field  failed  to  give." 

In  glowing  and  forceful  words  at  an  American  conven- 
tion the  Hon.  S.  B.  Capen,  LL.D.,  closed  an  address  on  the 

•  missionary  outlook  as  follows : 

"President  Harrison  at  the  Ecumenical  Conference  in 
words  of  splendid  eloquence  told  us  that  nothing  so  creates  a 
panic  in  an  army  as  to  be  fired  into  by  their  own  men.  With 
this  wonderful  outlook  for  Christian  nations  in  all  the  world, 
let  everything  that  is  akin  to  denominational  controversy  be 
r»        •         forever  ended  with  the  nineteenth  century,  and  let 

L)enoniina=  -^  '  ,   . 

tionai  US   enter   the   new,    as   one   great   army,   marchmg 

Objections,    steadily   together.     As   on   the   field   of   battle   the 
regimental  flags  are  put  aside,  and  only  the  Stars  and  Stripes 


6i8  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands, 

are  visible  from  one  end  of  the  line  to  the  other,  so  in  our  war 
for  righteousness  in  all  the  world  let  denominational  rivalries 
be  sent  to  the  rear,  and  nothing  be  seen  at  the  front  but  the 
banner  of  the  cross." 

The  objection  which  was  early  urged  against  Christian 
Endeavor  that  it  was  a  Congregational  organization  or  a  Pres- 
byterian organization,  or  that  it  belonged  to  the  Methodists 
or  the  Disciples  of  Christ,  has  been  dissipated  by  the  facts,  as 
if  to  prove  the  charge  of  sectarianism  untrue.  This  society 
has  grown  strong  by  turns  in  each  of  the  great  non-liturgical 
free  Christian  denominations  in  different  countries,  and  is  now 
making  rapid  headway  in  liturgical  and  state  churches,  as  if 
its  history  would  say  to  all  the  world :  "There  are  absolutely 
no  denominational  barriers  which  Christian  Endeavor  cannot 
surmount.  There  is  no  one  of  the  many  folds  of  the  one  Shep- 
herd where  the  Society  is  not  at  home,  and  has  not  found  its 
rightful  home." 

Another  of  the  earliest  objections  naturally  was  that  it 
was  an  American  society,  and  adapted  only  to  Americans,  or 
at  least  to  Anglo-Saxons.  But  this,  too,  the  history  of  twenty- 
five  years  has  thoroughly  demolished.  With  a  quaint  but 
forceful  illustration  Secretary  Blecher,  in  "Bilder  aus  dem 
Jugendbund  in  Aller  Welt,"  has  disposed  of  this  objection: 

"So  many  in  Germany  have  had  strong  objections  to 
Christian  Endeavor  because  its  cradle  was  in  America  and 
have  finished  up  the  subject  with  the  words,  'An  American 
growth!'  That  seems  to  me  very  much  as  though  we  should 
..  ^„  refuse  to  eat  potatoes  because  their  native  home 

American  was  in  America.  Yet  they  taste  very  good,  and 
Growth.  ^,g  never  speak  of  them  to-day  as  American  pota- 
toes, but  as  'Saxon'  or  'Westphalian'  or  'Magnum-bonum'  po- 
tatoes. It  is  just  the  same  with  the  Christian  Endeavor  So- 
ciety." 

In  the  same  volume  Count  Bernstorfl,  the  eminent  Ger- 


That  All  May  Be  One.  619 

man  Christian,  who  is  at  home  in  the  Emperor's  palace  as 
well  as  in  the  humble  meeting  of  Endeavorers,  is  quoted  as 
saying  in  regard  to  the  battle-cry  of  "English-American 
Christianity,"  sometimes  raised  in  Germany: 

Q^^j^^  "There  is  only  one  Christianity,  because  there 

Bernstorff's  is  Only  One  Christ.  Is  it  English  that  one  insists 
Address.  ^pon  couversion?  Does  not  our  Lord  say,  'Enter 
ye  in  through  the  straight  gate';  'Except  a  man  be  born  again 
he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God'?  Is  it  English  to 
avow  a  oneness  of  spirit  with  Christians  of  other  denomina- 
tions? Is  it  not  the  expressed  will  of  the  Lord  'that  they  all 
may  be  one'?  Is  it  English  that  one  should  seek  after  holi- 
ness? Saith  not  the  Scripture,  'Seek  after  holiness,  without 
which  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord.'  Is  it  English  that  all 
Christians  should  work  together  for  the  upbuilding  of 
Christ's  kingdom?  All  these  things  are  simple  biblical 
truths,  and  should  be  the  universal  spirit  of  Christendom. 
Indeed,  they  constitute  living  Christendom." 

But,  after  all,  the  great  warrant  for  our  fellowship  is  not 
found  in  the  eloquent  address  of  an  eminent  orator,  or  in  the 
well-reasoned  argument  of  any  advocate,  however  high-born, 
but  in  the  words  of  our  Master.  If  the  Christian  Endeavor 
Society  can  be  used  as  one  agency  to  fulfil  His  prayer;  if  in 
any  degree  it  can  "still  the  factious  foes  of  God's  own  peace," 
and  unite  in  sympathetic  bonds  the  Christians  of  a  hundred 
creeds  and  a  hundred  languages,  it  has  not  been  born  in  vain. 
If  it  has  impressed  upon  the  world  anew  the  sublime  truth 
that  "one  is  our  Master,  even  Christ,  and  all  we  are  brethren," 
these  five  and  twenty  years  have  been  worth  all  they  have  cost 
and  ten  thousand  times  more.  If  in  any  degree  the  Society 
has  hastened  the  day 

Our  "When  all  the  world  with  one  accord 

Lord's  In  full-voiced  unity  shall  sing, 

w^rds  ^"^  Master,  Christ  our  Lord; 

And  brethren  all  are  we," 


620  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

every  one  who  has  had  even  the  slightest  part  in  the  promo- 
tion of  the  work  with  pure  and  unselfish  motives  may  well 
thank  God  for  the  opportunity. 

But  I  would  close  my  volume,  not  with  the  words  of  any 
poet,  far  less  with  any  poor  phrases  of  my  own,  but  with  our 
Lord's  own  eternal  words.  May  Christian  Endeavor  more 
and  more  fulfil  them  in  the  quarter-century  to  come! 

^^Neither  for  these  only  do  I  pray,  but  for  them  also  that 
believe  on  me  through  their  word ;  that  they  may  all  be  one; 
even  as  thou,  Father,  art  in  me,  and  I  in  thee,  that  they  also 
may  be  in  us:  that  the  world  may  believe  that  thou  didst  send 
me.  And  the  glory  which  thou  hast  given  me  I  have  given 
unto  them;  that  they  may  be  one,  even  as  we  are  one;  I  in 
them,  and  thou  in  me,  that  they  may  be  perfected  into  one; 
that  the  world  may'know  that  thou  didst  send  me,  and  lovedst 
them,  even  as  thou  lovedst  me." 


SUPPLEMENT. 

IMPORTANT  EVENTS  IN  CHRISTIAN 
ENDEAVOR  CHRONOLOGY. 

1881. 
/     February  2.     First  society  organized  in  Williston  Church. 
Z      First  article  on  Christian  Endeavor,  published  in  The  Con- 

gre Rationalist,  in  August. 
2     October  18.     Second  society  organized  in  the  North  Church, 
Newburyport^  Mass. 

1882. 
^     The  first  convention  held  in  Williston  Church,  June  2. 

The  first  Christian  Endeavor  pamphlet,  "The  Children  at  the 
Church  Doors,"  and  the  first  book  on  Christian  Endeavor, 
entitled  "The  Children  and  the  Church,"  published  by 
Rev.  F.  E.  Clark  (the  first  in  the  spring,  the  second  in  the 
fall). 

1883. 
The  Second  Convention  held  in  the  Second  Parish  Church, 

Portland,  Me. 
The  first  Canadian  society  organized  in  the  Germain  Street 
Baptist  Church,  St.  John,  N.  B. 

1884. 
The  first  society  in  Hawaii  (and  the  first  outside  of  America) 

organized. 
The  Third  Convention  held  in  Lowell,  Mass.;  156  societies 

reported. 
The  first  distinctively  Junior  society  formed    (probably  in 
Tabor,  la.,  March  27,  1884). 

621 


622  Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

The  first  society  in  mission  lands  organized  in  Jaffna,  Ceylon, 
by  the  Misses  Leitch. 

1885. 

The  first  society  in  China  formed  in  Foochow,  March  29,  by 
the  Rev.  George  H.  Hubbard. 

The  Fourth  Convention  held  at  Old  Orchard,  Me.,  July  8,  9. 
The  United  Society  organized,  with  headquarters  at  8 
Beacon  Street,  Boston.  Removed  in  the  same  year  to  50 
Bromfield  Street,  Boston. 

The  Rev.  S.  W.  Adriance  chosen  secretary,  soon  succeeded  by 
Mr.  George  M.  Ward.  Mr.  William  Shaw  chosen  treas- 
urer, and  Mr.  W.  J.  Van  Patten  president,  succeeding 
Mr.  W.  H.  Pennell,  who  was  the  first  president  of  the 
convention  before  the  formation  of  the  United  Society. 

1886. 
The  first  local  union  formed  in  New  Haven. 
First  Christian  Endeavor  paper  published  in  Elizabeth,  N.  J. 
First  society  in  Africa  formed  in  Amanzimtote. 
First  issue  of     The  Golden  Rule  under  Christian  Endeavor 

management  published  October  7. 
The  Fifth  Convention  held  in  Saratoga,  N.  Y. 

1887. 

The  first  uniform  list  of  prayer-meeting  topics  issued. 

The  first  society  in  England  formed  at  Crewe,  in  August. 

The  Sixth  Convention  held  in  Saratoga,  July  5-7.  At  this 
convention  the  Rev.  Francis  E.  Clark  was  elected  presi- 
dent of  the  United  Society,  and  soon  after  resigned  his 
pastorate  to  give  his  whole  time  to  Christian  Endeavor 
work. 

1888. 

Christian  Endeavor  Day  was  first  generally  observed,  on 
February  2. 


christian  Endeavor  Chronology,  623 

Dr.  Clark  embarked  on  his  first  Christian  Endeavor  trip  to 
Europe  April  21. 

The  Seventh  Convention  met  in  Chicago,  July  5-8. 

The  first  societies  in  Australia  formed,  in  Brisbane  and  Mel- 
bourne. 

1889. 

The  Eighth  American  Convention,  the  first  called  "Interna- 
tional," because  including  Canada. 

Mr.  George  M.  Ward  resigned  the  general  secretaryship  in 
order  to  study  for  the  ministry. 

The  first  societies  were  formed  in  Turkey,  Japan,  Spain,  and 
France. 

1890. 

The  first  Prison  society  formed  in  Waupun,  Wis.,  February  2. 

Mr.  John  Willis  Baer  chosen  general  secretary,  February  23. 

The  first  Floating  society  formed  on  the  revenue  cutter  Dexter 
at  Woods  Hole,  Mass.,  in  April. 

The  Ninth  American  Convention  met  in  St.  Louis,  June  12-15. 

The  first  society  founded  in  Samoa,  at  Malua,  Upolu  Island, 
July   10. 

The  first  Junior  union  formed  in  Bridgeport,  Conn.,  in  Sep- 
tember. 

1891. 

The  Decennial  Celebration  held  in  Portland,  Me.,  in  Willis- 
ton  Church  and  the  City  Hall,  February  2. 

The  first  Mexican  society  formed  in  Chihuahua,  February  2. 

Dr.  Dickinson,  Dr.  Boynton,  Dr.  Hill,  and  Dr.  Clark  hold 
Endeavor  meetings  in  Great  Britain. 

The  first  British  convention  held  in  Crewe,  May  13. 

The  Friends'  Christian  Endeavor  Union  established. 

The  Tenth  International  Convention,  Minneapolis,  July  9-12. 

The  first  society  in  Chile  organized,  July  11. 


624  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

1892. 

The   Eleventh    International    Convention   held   in    Madison 

Square  Garden,  New  York  City,  July  7-19.     Attendance 

30,000. 
The  first  society  organized  in  Brazil. 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  Clark  start  on  their  first  Christian  Endeavor 

tour  around  the  world. 
Christian  Endeavor  made  an  exhibit  at  the  World's  Fair  in 

Chicago. 
Deacon  Choate  Burnham,  of  Boston,  a  devoted  friend  of  the 

movement  died,  the  first  trustee  of  the  United  Society  to 

pass  away. 
Professor  Amos  R.  Wells  became  managing  editor  of  The 

Golden  Rule. 

1893- 
The  Junior  Golden  Rule  first  issued  January  i. 
The  United  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  for  Australia  form- 
ed in  April,  and  for  China  in  May. 
The  Twelfth  International  Convention  met  in  Montreal,  July 

S-9- 

The  first  Japanese  national  convention  held  in  Kobe,  July 
6,  7,  when  the  Japanese  United  Society  of  Christian  En- 
deavor was  formed. 

The  first  Army  society  formed  in  Jefiferson  Barracks,  St. 
Louis,  Mo. 

1894. 

The  first  Chinese  convention  held  in  Shanghai,  June  23-25. 
The  first  union  in  South  Africa  formed  in  September. 
The  first  Irish  convention  held  in  Belfast,  October  5. 
The  American  ''Christian  Convention"  adopted  Christian  En- 
deavor as  a  regular  department. 
The  first  societies  formed  in  Switzerland  and  Germany. 


Christian  Endeavor  Chronology.  625 

The  Thirteenth  International  Convention  held  in  Cleveland, 

July  6-10. 
Canadian    Methodist    General    Conference    sanctioned    the 

"Epworth  League  of  Christian  Endeavor." 

1895. 

The  first  Laos  society  was  organized. 

The  first  Scottish  convention  held,  April  22. 

The  Fourteenth  International  Convention  held  in  Boston, 
July  10-15,  with  an  attendance  of  more  than  56,000. 

The  World's  Christian  Endeavor  Union  formed,  July  12. 

The  Methodist  New  Connection  Conference  of  England  and 
the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  of 
America  officially  adopted  Christian  Endeavor. 

The  first  society  formed  in  the  Marshall  Islands. 

1896. 

The  first  local  union  in  India  formed. 

The  first  Hawaiian  convention  held. 

The  first  societies  organized  in  Guatemala,  the  Caroline  Is- 
lands, Italy,  and  Bulgaria. 

The  first  national  convention  in  Mexico. 

Dr.  Clark  visited  Europe,  India,  and  Africa  in  the  interests 
of  Christian  Endeavor. 

1897. 

The  United  Society  of  India,  Burma,  and  Ceylon  organized. 
The  Tenth  Legion  and  Quiet-Hour  enrolments  started. 
The  Sixteenth  International  Convention  held  in  San  Fran- 
cisco. 

1898. 

The  first  national  convention  in  India  held. 
The  first  societies  formed  in  Russia  and  in  the  Philippines. 
The  number  of  trustees  of  the  United  Society  enlarged  to 
include  State  and  Provincial  presidents. 

40 


626  christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands« 

The  Seventeenth  International  Convention  held  in  Nashville, 

July  5-1 1. 
The  Golden  Rule  became    The   Christian  Endeavor   World 

October  i. 

1899. 

The  Christian  Endeavor  headquarters  in  America  moved 
from  646  Washington  Street,  Boston,  to  Tremont  Tem- 
ple. 

Many  conventions  held  in  Jamaica,  visited  by  the  President 
of  the  United  Society. 

William  H.  Pennell,  the  first  signer  of  the  constitution,  died. 

The  Eighteenth  International  Convention  held  in  Detroit, 
July  5-10 

Uniform  Local  Union  Topics  first  published. 

Christian  Endeavor  Peace  Memorial  presented  to  Congress. 

1900. 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  Clark  visit  conventions  in  Japan  and  China, 

returning  home  across  Siberia. 
Rev.  F.  S.  Hatch  chosen  first  field  secretary  for  India. 
The  Second  World's  Convention  held  in  London,  July  14-18. 
The  first  Spanish  convention  in  Saragossa  in  August. 
The  Church  of  England  Christian  Endeavor  Union  formed. 

1901. 
The  first  Filipino  society  organized  in  Manila. 
The  Rev.   C.   E.   Eberman  appointed  field  secretary  of  the 

United  Society. 
Twentieth  anniversary  observed  in  Portland,  Me. 
"The  Endeavor  Hymnal"  published. 
The  first  society  formed  in  Portugal. 

1902. 
The  first  Christian  Endeavor  Summer  School  held  in  Yar- 
mouth, Me. 


christian  Endeavor  Chronology.  627 

The  first  convention  held  in  Persia. 

Dr.  John  Henry  Barrows  and  the  Rev.  M.  M.  Binford, 
trustees  of  the  United  Society,  and  Rev.  Charles  Perry 
Mills,  the  organizer  of  the  second  society,  died. 

Mr.  John  Willis  Baer  resigned  the  general  secretaryship. 

1903. 

Mr.  Von  Ogden  Vogt  chosen  general  secretary  of  the  United 
Society  in  America. 

Field-Secretary  Eberman  died  at  Banff,  Canada,  April  12, 
in  the  midst  of  a  strenuous  Endeavor  campaign. 

Rev.  George  H.  Hinman  became  the  first  field  secretary  for 
China. 

The  Twenty-first  International  Convention,  and  the  first  bien- 
nial, held  in  Denver,  July  9-13. 

Dr.  Clark  sailed  on  his  fourth  Endeavor  journey  around 
the  world  December  30,  visiting  Australasia,  New  Zea- 
land, Australia,  South  Africa,  and  Europe. 

1904. 

The  great  revival  in  Wales  began  in  an  Endeavor  meeting 
of  the  New  Quay  Calvinistic  Methodist  Church  in  Feb- 
ruary. 

Sagamore  Beach  Christian  Endeavor  summer  assemblies  be- 
gun. 

International   Christian   Endeavor   Brotherhood   organized. 

European  Christian  Endeavor  Union  organized  at  London 
at  the  time  of  the  British  National  Convention. 

The  first  Finnish  convention  held. 

Increase  and  Betterment  Campaign  for  all  America  intro- 
duced. 

Rev.  Herbert  Halliwell  of  England  appointed  field  secre- 
tary for  India. 

Rev.  Carl  Stackman  appointed  field  secretary  for  South  Af- 
rica. 


628         Christian  Endeavor  in  All  Lands. 

1905. 

Chinese  national  convention  at  Ningpo  attended  by  two  thou- 
sand Endeavorers  (the  greatest  religious  convention  ever 
held  in  China). 

Congregational  Christian  Endeavor  Union  formed.   ' 

The  first  Summer  School  for  Junior  Workers  at  Asbury  Park, 
New  Jersey,  July  19-22. 

The  Twenty-second  International  Convention  at  Baltimore, 
July  5-10. 

The  Quarter-century  Memorial  Building  and  Fund  pro- 
jected and  an  International  Committee  formed. 

First  Training-school  for  District  Secretaries  held  at  Lib- 
erty, N.  Y.  September  26-28. 

1906. 

Twenty-fifth  Anniversary  of  Christian  Endeavor  observed 
very  generally  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  meetings  of 
special  importance  being  held  in  Portland,  New  York, 
Washington,  Boston,  and  many  other  American  cities. 

The  Second  European  Convention  and  Third  World's  Con- 
vention held  in  Geneva,  Switzerland,  July  30,  31,  and 
August  I.  *         • 


INDEX. 


Adlof,  Pastor  Alois,  391. 

Adriance,  Rev.  S.  W.,  105,  106,  107,  564. 

Agbebi,  Dr.  Mojola,  406. 

Alden,  Mrs.  Isabella  M.,  119. 

Aldridge,  Rev.  J.  G.,  504. 

Alexander,  Charles  M.,  570. 

Allen,  Rev.  E.  B.,  275,  553. 

Ament,  Rev.  William  S.,  420,  616. 

Amerman,  W.  L.,  318,  358. 

Anderson,  Rev.  Herbert,  434. 

Angell,  President  J.  B.,  227. 

Arnett,  Bishop,  373. 

Babcock,  Rev.  Maltbie  D.,  145,  564,  611. 

Badge,  The  C.  E.,  a  sign  of  brightening 
of  religious  life,  300;  "showing 
one's  colors,"  301  ;  origin  of  the  de- 
sign, 302. 

Baer,  John  Willis,  108,  109,  145,  204,  212, 

367- 
Bahtz.  Rev.  Robert,  390,  546. 
Bail,  Sir  Henry,  128. 
Bainbridge,  Rev.  W.,  383. 
Baker,  Rev.  Smith,  321,  595. 
Bandy,  Mr.,  434. 
Banners.   International   messengers,  304; 

"  increase  campaign,"  305. 
Barbour,  Miss  Catherine,  398. 
Barreto,  Mr.  J.,  399. 
Barrett,  Rev.  E.  R.,  145.  383. 
Barrows,    President    John    Henry,    294, 

487,  604. 
Barrows,  Rev.  J.  O.,  564. 
Barton,  Fred  C,  484. 
Barton,  Mrs.,  484. 
Barton,  Rev.  J.  L.,  63. 
Beach,  President  David  N.,  294. 
Beany,  H.  E.,  442. 
Belsey,  Justice  F.,  145. 
Bernadotte,  Prince  Oscar  and  wife,  343, 

389. 
Berner,  Pastor,  86. 
Barnstorff,  Herr  Graf,  86,  89,  619. 
Besolow,  Thomas  E.,  135. 
"  Betterment  Campaign,"  372. 
Biberauer,  Rev.  Theo.,  391. 
Bible-reading  courses,  319. 
Biederwolf,  Rev.  W.  E.,  336,  337. 
Bilhorn,  Peter,  570. 
Bishop  of  London,  144,  145,  146. 


629 


Blaikie.  Rev.  James,  438. 
Blakeslee,  Rev.  Erastus,  106,  113. 
Blecher,    Rev.    Frederick,    86,    120,    123, 

204,  381,  386,  387,  618. 
Bliss,  Miss  A.,  71,  412. 
Bonner,  Rev.  Carey,  79,  150,  565,  570. 
Boynton.  Rev.  Nehemiah,  105,  106. 
Brain,  Miss  Belle  M.,  120. 
Breden,  J.  Neale,  442. 
Brewer,  Hon.  David  J.,  614. 
Bridgman,  Rev.  H.  A.,  314. 
Bridgman,  Raymond  L.,  502. 
Brier,  Miss  Marion.  590. 
Brokaw,  Rev.  Ralph  W.,  105,  106.  ' 

Brooks,  Raymond  C,  217,  218. 
Brown,  Charles  S.,  204,  565,  569. 
Brown,  Miss  Grace  Chalmers,  402. 
Brown,  Miss  Rebecca,  543. 
Briquet,  Charles.  201,  204,  397. 
Burbank,  Mr.  Luther,  530. 
Burgess,  Mr.,  139. 
Burrell,  Rev.  D.  J.,  52,  506,  595. 
Buzacott,  Mr.  G.  H.,  80. 

Cameron,  Christina  K.,  154,  616. 

Campbell,  Rev.  R.  J.,  369,  607. 

Capen,  Hon.  S.  B.,  227,  501,  505,  508, 
617. 

Carey,  Rev.  William,  165,  167,  433,  434, 
517,  570. 

Carter,  Charles  E.,  79. 

Cassels,  Rev.  Diogo,.  398. 

Cervi,  Rev.  Giuseppe,  201,  395. 

Chamberlain,  Rev.  Jacob,  416,  433. 

Chamberlain,  Rev.  L.  B.,  434,  617. 

Chamberlain,   Rev.   William  I.,  417,  433. 

Chandler,  Rev.  John,  434. 

Chaplin,  Rev.  W.  Knight,  75,  120,  139, 
204,  384. 

Chapman,  Rev.  J.  Wilbur,  120,  336,  523, 
564- 

Chase,  Rev.  Samuel  B.,  542. 

Chiba,  Prof.  Y.,  586. 

Choate,  Ambassador  Joseph  H.,  145. 

Christian  Citizenship,  190. 

Christian  Endeavor,  its  antecedents,  20; 
conditions  favorable  to  its  begin- 
ning, 17,  ff;  its  genesis,  34,  ff;  "first 
things,"  42,  ff ;  its  exodus,  52,  ff ; 
universal     adaptability,     55;     begin- 


630 


Index. 


nings  in  foreigjn  lands,  63,  ff;  un- 
derlying- principles,  89,  ff;  helps  to 
its  growth,  103.  ff:  its  literature, 
116,  ff;  C.  E.  and  psychology,  229, 
ff;  relationship  to  denomination  and 
church,  275;  C.  E.  and  the  Sunday 
school,  285;  C.  E.  and  the  Y.  M. 
C.  A.,  286;  backsets,  288,  ff;  intel- 
lectual stimulus  of,  313,  ff;  defini- 
tion of,  325;  C.  E.  and  evangelism, 
328;  democracy  of,  341;  origin  of 
name,  353;  auxiliaries  of,  355; 
growth  of,  in  America  (362),  Eu- 
rope (380),  Africa  (400),  Asia 
(416),  island  world  (438),  among 
Boer  prisoners  (452),  upon  the  sea 
(462),  in  surprising  places  (473)  ; 
journeys  of  writer,  487,  ff;  C.  E. 
and  Christian  citizenship,  497,  ff; 
C.  E.  and  missions,  268,  508;  prac- 
tical side  of,  529,  ff;  heroism  of, 
550,  ff. 

Christian  Endeavor  World,  The,  118, 
120. 

Christian  Nurture,  new  interest  in,  18; 
course  of  lectures  on,  at  Auburn 
and   elsewhere,  295. 

Churchill,   Lord   Randolph,   238,   260. 

Civic  Club,  359,  505. 

Clark,  Mrs.  Francis  E.,  35,  40,  41,  120, 
489,  S18.. 

Cleghorn,   Mliss,  414. 

Cleinents,  John  R.,  116,  117,  126,  204, 
360,  573- 

Clifford,   Dr.  John,  145,   190. 

Closs,  Rev.  W.  J.  L.,  139. 

Coe,  Professor,  229,  ff. 

Coleman,  George  W.,  114,  204. 

Committee  system,  first,  36,  49,  96 ; 
growth  of,  267;  prejudice  afrainst, 
269 ;  value  of,  270 ;  committee  work 
an  intellectual  stimulus,  314;  un- 
usual   forms,    432,    555 ;    plans    for, 

579- 
Conant,  Dr.,  198. 
Consecration   meeting,   38,   53,   262,   355, 

524- 
Conventions,  the  first,  58,  130;  second, 
130;  third,  131;  fourth,  104,  131; 
Saratoga,  131,  363;  Chicago,  131, 
364;  Philadelphia,  131,  364;  St. 
Louis,  131,  364 ;  Minneapolis,  131, 
364;  New  York,  131.  365;  Mon- 
treal, 136,  190,  365 ;  Cleveland,  136, 
365;  Boston,  137;  Washington,  366; 
San  Francisco,  193,  366;  Nashville, 
367;  Detroit,  368;  London,  142,  274, 
368;  Cincinnati,  368;  Denver,  368; 
Baltimore,  370;  Ningpo,  154;  Aus- 
tralia, 159,  ff;  India,  164;  Persia, 
170;  Berlin,  173;  Madrid,  176; 
Okayama,     177;     Guadalajara,    178; 


value  of,  185;  after  effects,  192; 
"convention  oratory,"  601,  ff. 

Conwell,  Rev.  Russell  H.,  434.  59i.  595, 
606. 

Cortelyou,  Hon.  George  B.,  614. 

Covenant,  or  pledge,  objections  to,  232, 
242;  different  forms,  246,  251;  in- 
fluence of,  247 ;  value  of,  249 ;  tes- 
timonies to,  250. 

Cowan,  Rev.  John  P.,  117,  118,  122,  204, 
221,  329. 

Cowan,  Rev.  J.  W.,  214. 

Crane,  Rev.  C.  D.,  320,  482. 

Creighton,  Dr.,  Bishop  of  London,  144, 
145,  146. 

Crosby,   Miss  Fanny,  564. 

Cruzan,  Rev.  J.  A.,  64. 

Cuyler,  Rev.  Theodore,  42. 

Darby,  Rev.  W.  J.,  312. 

da  Silva,  Teixera,  378. 

dAubigne,    Rev.   Henri   Merle,   201. 

Davidson,  Rev.  J.  N.,  571. 

Davidson,  Rev.  Leonard  P.,  448. 

de  Blois,  Rev.  Austin  K.,  330,  593. 

Decision   Day,  329. 

Denominational   rallies,    135 ;    fellowship, 

189;     objections,    279;     recognition. 

280;   opposition,  295. 
de  Ticnda,   Rev.   Enrique,  272. 
Dickey,  Judge   Lyle,  67. 
Dickinson,  Rev.   C.  A.,  48,  106,  564,  565, 

573. 
Dille,  Rev.  E.   R.,   103. 
District   Secretaries,  324. 
Donaldson,  Rev.  J.   B.,  543. 
Doyle,  Rev.  Sherman  H.,  126,  254. 
Duke  and  Duchess  of  York,  81. 
Dutton,  Rev.  Horace,  176,  204,  381,  389, 

395,  546. 

Eaton,  Rev.  James  D.,  376. 

Eberman,   Rev.   Clarence   E.,   120,   523. 

Edwards,  Mr.  Stanley  P.,  125,  175,  201, 
204. 

Eggleston,   Rev.   Edward,   353. 

Ellis,   William  T.,    122. 

Estey,  Mr.,  570. 

European  C.  E.   Central  Bureau,  382. 

Evans,  General   Clement   A.,   367. 

Evangelism,  in  conventions,  193 ;  in  C. 
E.,  327;  new  features  of,  328;  mis- 
sionary character  of,  237. 

Ewing,  Dr.,  434. 

Excell,  E.   O.,  564,  570. 

Faber,  D.  D.,  387. 
Fairbanks,  Hon.  C.  W.,  362. 
Fallows,  Rt.  Rev.   Samuel,  609. 
Farningham,    Miss    Marianne.    56.1, 
Farrar,    Dean,    144. 
Fenn,    R.    W.,   378. 


Index. 


631 


Ferguson,  Mr.,  442. 

Field   Secretaries,  372. 

Fisher,   Rev.    R.    B.,   542. 

Fleming,  Rev.  John  R.,  383. 

Floating  Endeavor,  462,   ff. 

Folk,    Governor,   501. 

Forgacs,   Pastor  Julius,  392. 

Foster,  Hon.  J.  W.,   134. 

Foster,  Percy  S.,  366,  561,  563,  569. 

Frackleton,   Rev.  W.   F.,   145. 

Fulton,  Rev.  A.  A.,  515. 

GiFFORD,  Dr.  O.  P.,  106,  510. 

Gladden.   Rev.   Washington,  227. 

Golden  Rule,  The,  82,  120,  122,  279. 

Gordon,  Rev.  A.  J.,  227. 

Gould,   Miss  Anna,  419. 

Graff,  George  B.,  106,  109,  204,  565. 

Gray,   Dr.,   395. 

Green,  Rev.  Bowley,  321. 

Greenhough,  Rev.  J.   O.,  146. 

Greig,  Rev.  C.  E.,  87,  393. 

Grose,   Rev.    H.   B.,    105,    106,   302,  321, 

564,  569. 
Gulick,  Rev.  W.  H.,   124,   176,  204,  397, 

398. 
Gulick,    Mrs.    Alice    Gordon,    176,    397, 

516. 

Hadfield,  Rev.  J.,  445. 

Hall,    President    Charles    Cuthbert,    74, 

294. 
Hall,  Professor  G.  Stanley,  231,  233,  234. 
Hall,  Rev.  Herbert,  432. 
Hall.  Dr.  John.  227. 
Hall,  William   Phillips,  335. 
Hallenbeck,  Rev.  E.  F.,  336. 
Halliwell,.  Rev.    Herbert,    309,   417,   432, 

557- 
Hallock,  Rev.  H.  G.  C.,  416. 
Hamlin.  Rev.  Tennis  S.,  595. 
Harada,  Rev.  Tasuke,  125,  145,  417,  424. 
Harper,   President  William  R.,  294. 
Harris,  Richard  A.,  569. 
Harry,  Rev.  F.  E.,  204,  442. 
Hasse,  Rev.  Evelyn  R.,  75,  145,  383. 
Hassel,  W.  R.,  331. 
Hatch,  Rev.  F.  S.,  428,  430,  431. 
Haus,  Miss  Kate,  120,  219. 
Hawk,  Ju,  135. 
Hay,  Hon.  John,  562. 
Hill,   Rev.   James  L.,   105,   106,   107,  14S, 

193.  564- 
Hill,  Mrs.  James  L.,  564. 
Hinman,  Rev.  George  W.,  417,  421- 
Hocking,    Silas,    igo. 
Holbrook,    Dr.,   61. 
Home   Circle,  The,   234,  356,  359- 
Hope,  W.  H.,  79.  i8i- 
Home,  Rev.  C.  Silvester,  145. 
Horton.  Rev.  R.  F..  145. 
Hotchkiss,  Rev.   Willis  R.,  341,  400. 


Howard,  General  O.  O.,  367. 

Hoyt,  Rev.  Wayland,   186,  209,  550,  595. 

Hubbard,    Rev.    George   H.,   67,   68,   69, 

417,  418. 
Hubbell,  Rev.  C.  H.,  371. 
Hugenschmidt,  Rev.   S.,  3S7.  1 

Hughes,  Rev.  Hugh  Price,  144,  146,  148. 
Hume,  Rev.  E.  S.,  434. 
Hume,  Rev.  Robert  A.,  159,  434, 

Inanuma,  Rev.  I.,  417. 
Increase  Campaign,  370. 
Institutes,  C.    E.,  at  Philadelphia,   New 

York,  etc.,  323,  ff. 
International    Brotherhood,    503. 
Ives,  Rev.  Joel  S.,  564. 

Jacobs,  Rev.  F.  H.,  337,  =;6i,  564. 

Jansen,   Mrs.   Elizabeth  W.,  448. 

Jencks,   Carlton   H.,  464,  467. 

Jessup,  Robert  J.,  476. 

Jones,  Antoinette  P.,  467,  468. 

Jones.   Dr.   J.    P.,  434. 

Journeys,  C.  E.,  first,  488;  second,  489; 
third,  490 ;  fourth,  491 ;  impressions 
made  by,  492.  ff. 

Jowett,  Rev.  J.  H.,  608. 

Junior,  Tamil,  72;  Melbourne,  81;  Ju- 
nior literature,  120;  rally  at  New 
York,  135 ;  rally  at  London,  149 ; 
Adelaide,  160;  first  society,  212; 
growth,  219;  first  union,  219;  ral- 
lies, 220;  superintendents,  220; 
pledge  or  covenant,  245. 

Karmarkar,  Sumantrao  Vishnu,   135. 

Kellog,   Giles,  470. 

Kelly,   Arthur  W.,   117,   122,  204. 

Kenngott,  Rev.  George  F.,  219. 

Kilbon,  George,   413. 

King,  President  Henry  C,  294. 

Kinney.   Rev.   Henry  N..  564. 

Kittredge,   Rev.   Abbott   E.,   227. 

Koch,  Miss   Margaret,  321,  601. 

Kruger,  President,  489. 

Kutchin,   Rev.   Victor,   474. 

Lamont,  Rev.  J.  D.,  75,  139,  204,  298. 

Lancaster,  Professor  E.  G.,  225. 

Laws,  H.,  387. 

Leitch,  Miss    Margaret,  72. 

Lewis,  W.  H.,  394. 

Lincoln.  H.  C,  561,  569. 

Ling,   Mr.,  68. 

Littlefield,   Hon.   Charles  E.,  497. 

Lord  Mayor  of  London.   144. 

Lorimer,  Rev.  George   C,  145. 

Lutz,  Mrs.   Grace   Livingston  Hill,   119. 

Lyon,  Polhemus,  204,  414. 

McAll,  Dr.  R.  W.,  393. 
McCauley,  Rev.  W.  F.,  120. 


632 


Index. 


McElneen,  Rev.  William  T.,   145. 

MicGaw,   Mr.,  434- 

McKellen,  W.  H.,  503- 

McKinley,   President  William,   145,  602. 

McLaren  Dr.  Alexander,  144. 

MacLaurin,   Ella,  322. 

McNeill,  Rev.  John,  145,  336. 

"  Maclaren,  Ian,"  144. 

Macedonian   Phalanx,  356,  358,  512. 

Macfarland,  Hon.  H.  B.  F.,  497,  505- 

Makins,  John,  466,  467. 

Mallary,   Rev.   R.   DeWitt,  564. 

Manchester,  Eli,  113. 

Marchand,  Rev.  Mr.,  414. 

Marcusson,  H.  H.,  569. 

Marquis   of   Northampton,    199. 

Marsden,  Rev.  Edward,  135,  374- 

Marsh,  Rev.  Mr.,  381. 

Marshall,   Rev.   H.  I.,  430. 

Martin,  Rev.  J.,  i55.  I57- 

M!ateer,  Vicente,  381. 

Mather,  Rev.   Cotton,  21,  22,  23. 

Mead,   Rev.   Silas,  442. 

Meiring,  Rev.  J.   P.  G.,  414. 

Membership,  22,  36. 

Memorial   Fund,   183,  370. 

Mershon,  Stephen  L.,  511. 

Meyer,  Rev.  F.  B.,  17,  loi,  120,  145,  296, 

383,  522,  523. 
Mickey,  Hon.  John  H.,  452. 
Mijnhardt,    Rev.    Charles    F.,    452,    455, 

459- 
Mills,  Rev.   Charles   Perry,  57. 
Missionary  Reading  Circle,  319. 
M'iyake,  Rev.  A.,  417. 
Mizpah  Circle,  35,  49,  215. 
Monod,  Rev.  Theodore,  34,  563. 
Montgomery,  Mr.,  139. 
Moody,  D.  L.,  269,  295.  336,  479. 
Morgan,  Rev.  G.  Campbell,  296. 
Morgan,    Rev.    Joseph    Brown,    79,    120, 

288,  380,  383,  565,  568. 
Morgan,   General  John  T.,  367. 
Morrill,  Miss  Mary,  419. 
Mothers'   Societies,  219,  284. 
Moule,  Archdeacon,  142,  145,  156,  158. 
Murray,    Rev.    Andrew,    120,    295,    412, 

415,  522,  523. 
Mursell,  Rev.  James,   79,    139,   309,   442, 

521,  527- 

Newell,  Rev.  J.  E.,  438,  445,  515. 
Nickerson,  Rev.  N.  F.,  546. 
Nikolai,  Baron,  190. 

Object  of  C.  E.,  36. 
Oliphant,  Rev.  C.  H.,  564. 
Oliphant,  Rev.  Charles  M.,  529. 
Overell,  J.  B.,  442. 

Packard,  Rev.  N.  L.,  543. 
Pal,   Krishna,  570. 
Palm,  August,  389. 


Parker,  Dr.  Joseph,  144,  145,  146,  147- 

Parker,  Professor,  322. 

Parr,  J.  T.,  145. 

Pastor,  The,  and  C.  E.,  593. 

Patchell,  Rev.  William  T.,  547- 

Patterson,  Rev.  William,   145,  595,  610. 

Paul,  Pastor,  175. 

Peloubet,  Rev.  F.  N.,  145,  275. 

Pennell,   W.   H.,  35,  40,  58,  61. 

Pentecost,  Rev.  George  F.,  336. 

Perry,  Rev.  T.  S.,  564. 

Pettee,  Rev.  J.  H.,  125,  177,  3^9,  4^7, 
424. 

Pickens,  James  M.,  533. 

Pierson,  Rev.  Arthur  T.,  510. 

Piper,  W.  G.,  442. 

Pitkin,  Rev.  Horace,  419. 

Pledge,  see  Covenant. 

Pollock,  Rev.  John,  75,  120,  139,  I45, 
204,  506. 

Pope,  Rev.  H.  W.,  322. 

Potts,  Rev.  A.  W..  76,  77- 

Pratt,  Rev.  Dwight  M.,  564. 

Pratt,  Miss  Grace,  548. 

Prayer  meeting,  essential,  36;  the  first, 
43;  form  of  confession,  96;  im- 
portance of,  255 ;  contrast  with  old- 
fashioned  type,  256;  its  permanence 
and   stabiHty,  260. 

Prison  Societies,  474. 

Quiet  Hour,  120,  181,  189,  234,  295,  356. 

525- 

Raikes,  Robert,  25. 

Randall,  Rev.  Dr.,  449. 

Randall,  J.   E.,  201,  449. 

Rang,  Efr.,  381,  389. 

Rankin,    President   J.   E.,   560,   564. 

Ransom,  Rev.  Charles  N.,  415. 

Ransom,  E.   S.,  548. 

Rawson,  Sir  Harry,   172. 

Reid,   Hon.   Whitelaw,   134. 

Rhodes,  Rev.  Mr.,  593. 

Rife.  Rev.  C.  F.,  446. 

Roosevelt,      President     Theodore,      159, 

352,  501. 
Ross,  Rev.  J.  H.,  127. 
Ross,  Robert,  506. 
Rossiter.  Dr.  S.  B.,  447. 
Rural  C.   E.,  356,  360. 
Russell,  Miss  Nellie  M.,  558. 

Sagamore,  322. 

Sankey,  Ira  D.,  564. 

Saraiva,  Eliezer  dos  Sanctos,  309,  379. 

Savage,   Rev.    Charles,  215. 

Siixbach,  Professor  Emil,  204,  390. 

Schaff,  Dr.  Philip,  134. 

Scudder,  Mrs.  Alice  M!ay,  135. 

Service,  17,  28,  96,  272,  272- 

Sewall,  Rev.  J.  L.,  122. 

Shaw,  Rev.  M.  H.,  395. 


Index, 


633 


Shaw,  William,  106,  107,  log,  204,  536- 

Shea,  Bat,  506. 

Shedd,  Mrs.  Lucy  Clark,  544. 

Sheldon,  Rev.  Charles  M.,  147,  I49.  283, 

330,  563,  595- 
Shurtleflf,  Rev.  Ernest  W.,  571. 
Slocum,    Mrs.,   215. 
Smellie,   Rev.  A.,   145. 
Smith,  Dr.  Arthur  H.,  156,  157,  190,  504. 
Smith,   Gypsy,  336. 
Smith,  Rev.  Samuel  F.,  140,  562. 
Smith,  Hon.  W.  O.,  64. 
Spencer,  J.  B.,  204,  442. 
Spurgeon,    Rev.    Charles    II.,    145,    226, 

270. 
Stackman,   Rev.   Carl,   414. 
Starbuck,  Dr.  E.  D.,  228,  229. 
Stead,  W.  T.,  145,  197,  503. 
Stebbins,  George  C,  564,  570. 
Steele,  Chaplain   Robert  E.,  462,  467. 
Stelzle,   Rev.    Charles,   337. 
Stewart,    President   George   B.,   294. 
Steyn,   President,  489. 
Stock,  Eugene,  508. 
Stone,  Lyman,  545. 
Street,  Miss  M.  Jennie,   120,  436. 
Summer   Schools,  320,  322. 
Sunday  School  LTnion,  "j"]. 
Sunday   School   and   C.   E.,  25,   285. 
Suter,  J.   P.,  577. 
Szabo,  Prof.,  204,  391. 

Tauler,  John,  522. 

Taylor,  Jeremy,  522. 

Taylor,  J.   Neale,  442. 

Taylor,  General  Robert  L.,  185. 

Temperance  and  C.  E.,  499. 

Tenth   Legion,   The,   234,   356,   358,   512. 

Thompson,  Miss,  402. 

Thwing,  President  C.  P.,  227. 

Tomkins,  Rev.  Floyd  W.,   120,   145,   189, 

521,  608. 
Torrey,  Rev.  R.  A.,  175. 
Tung,  Mr.,  558. 

Unions,  local.   State,  and  national,   103. 

108,  III,  ff,  123,  384. 
United  Society,  103,  107,  no.  ' 

Urbschat  Pastor,  387. 


Vail,  Rev.  S.  N.,  478. 

Van  der  Beken,  Rev.  V.,  381,  395. 

Van  Mieter,  H.  H.,  330,  331. 

Van  Patten,   Hon.   W.  J.,  43,   106,    107, 

118. 
Vogt,  Von  Ogden,  108,  109,  204,  530. 

Walker,  Dr.  J.  E.,  71. 

Wallis,   Frederick  E.,  473. 

Walters,  Bishop,  ZIZ- 

Walton,  George,  204,  412,  442. 

Wanamaker,   Hon.  John,   133. 

Ward,  George  M.,   106,  107,  108. 

Wareing,  Mrs.  Jennie,  534. 

Warren,   Ex-President  William  F.,  227. 

Washburn,  H.  E.,  569. 

Washington,  Booker  T.,  2>7Z- 

Watkinson,  Rev.  W.  L.,  199. 

Watson,  Rev.  William,  146. 

Weatherley,   Miss  Ella  M.,  541. 

Wells,  Prof.  A.  R.,  117,  118,  122,  145, 
183,  204,  241,  262,  263,  279,  317,  319, 
322,  358,  502,  505,  560,  563,  596. 

Wliale,  Rev.  Mr.,  80. 

Wharton,   Rev.   G.   L.,  352. 

White,   Dr.,  402. 

Wilder,    Robert  T.,   5x0. 

Willard,  Frances  E.,  206,  2ir,  266,  287. 

Williams,  Mrs.  C.  S.,  376. 

Williams,   Mr.  T.,  442. 

Williston   Church,   30. 

Willoughby,  Rev.  Gerald,  414. 

Wolcott,  Governor  Roger,  352. 

Wood,  Mrs.  Ella  M.,  120. 

Wood,  J.  M'.,  467. 

Wood,  President  Nathan  E.,  294. 

Woolley,   F.   H.   C,  302. 

Work,   Dr.,    ig6. 

World's  Union,  103,  107,  108,  142,  146. 
182. 

Yates,  Rev.  Wm.  N.,  576. 
Yohansdotter,  Miss  Olafia,  450. 
Yonan,   Kasha  Isaan,   171. 
Young  People's  Era,  25. 
Young,   Rev.   Egerton   R.,  443. 
Y.   M.   C.   A.,  25,  286. 


DATE  DUE 

%j^BJ^"i^f 

^m^m^ 

jMfJ^!lttM 

L^ 

1 

00^ 

,/'  J 

t'la^ 

^^i^- 

GAYLORD 

PRINTED  IN  U.S.A. 

